This was a message I Spoke at my church and was excited to share about being a christian that reaches out to their world.
You can click on the link hear to here this message today
Pastor Tim Rabara: The Power of Soul Winning (10.05.11) Mark 16:15.
Im Super Excited For 2012
2011 was a year that I cannot forget! This was a year that I got married to the love of my life Jennifer Vasquez….God really blessed me not only with my wife, but looking back I am really grateful for the family and friends in my life. Sometimes you have to really take a look at the people that care for you and thank God for them.
Going into the new year this is always the time to take a look at what needs to be changed in our lives as we prepare for the new year. One thing I really want to do is Give God the time to really challenge me to grow as a Christian, God really wants us to be successful in all we do, I mean he really wants to us make him proud as our heavenly father. There are so many different ways we plan for the new year, but why not take the time to spend with the Lord in prayer to receive his peace and joy for 2012.
Planning and preparing is vital as the word of God tells us how to prepare
“ Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
Habakkuk 2:2-4
Theres An Oppurtunity For You! Dont Miss It…..
Everytime God does something new in my life, I always get a sense of peace and direction that comes from his word and presence. What I love about Jesus is that once you truly give your all to him he totally guides your steps to live a sucessful life for him. In my years of serving me I often like to reflect on how good God has been to me. You know you can never thank him enough for what he has done,I mean we truly don’t deserve his love. But yet because he died for us, he demonstrated his love. The scripture I read this morning was John 3:16, a very popular scripture that has been translated so many different ways.But the bottom line is that God loved us so much that he GAVE his son to die for you and I so that we may not perish but have eternal life.
Here is a thought, to live today as if it was your last day on earth.The meaning of this passage to me is that we are offered an oppurtunity to accept Jesus to not only have our sins forgiven but to live eternally with him in heaven.
Just reflecting this morning on his love, I truly am grateful for the love of God, I was just a young man who had no direction and purpose that was addicted to crystal meth and was headed for destruction and once I gave my life to Jesus My life has truly been transformed. You know as I write this I know that there is someone reading this and you may be wondering about life and what your purpose is, I mean you may not be addicted to drugs but your heart is feeling empty and you just can’t seem to find the answer,but the oppurtunity for you to know Jesus is there.So I encourage to ask God even now to come into your life and in your heart…
No More Concepts
What I love the most about being a youth leader is when I see young people serving God with all of their heart, soul and mind. For the past few years there have been so many young people that came to know God through the ministry of God’s Anointed Now Generation here in San Diego and what blesses me to this day is when I see them serve God and their church with all their heart. One of our goals this year is to see an army of young people raise up within the ministry of Victory Outreach San Diego. If I can write anything this morning , my thought would be that I am grateful to be called into such a powerful youth ministry. This Sunday night I will be sharing with our team some points on how we are going to reach our young people, as I was jotted some notes down this is what came to mind.
THREE THOUGHTS I’M GOING TO SHARE WITH OUR NOWGEN TEAM LEADERS
1. We must be leaders that reflect Jesus in our life , The Apostle Paul said that we are as living epistles meaning that we are living bibles in the world we live in. As youth leaders its important to understand that we are God’s transmitter in living a Christian Life for our young people. Meaning this, that young people are always picking and learning things from us. With so many ungodly examples demonstrated through society we must strive to be a living Christian example to the young people that are in our lives.
2. We must have the vision internalized in our hearts to believe in young people. When the world gives up on our generation, as leaders with the vision we cannot give up on the young people,Someone once told me that you have to wake up in the morning with people on your mind, Jesus style ministry is people. As youth leaders we must live, breath, eat, sleep, youth minstry. As we have the vision burning we must take the repsonsiblity in discipling them and imparting Godly values, principals.
3. As Leaders we must have Quality over Quantity. When Jesus addressed the thousands it was not about the crowd it was about defining those that would follow him, one of my favorite scriptures is found in the book of Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Its important to understand that spending time and ministering to young people is the key to having a thriving youth ministry. You can never go wrong with loving and spending time with them. I mean many times we come up with so many concepts and ideas and really its about the needs of our young people. The point that I want to emphasis is that we need to Disciple this generation to Christ and see an army raise up for him.
Find A Mentor!
One of the most successful tips to acheiving greatness is having the right people in your life. When I first became a christian there was a young man who was very interested in my walk with the Lord, I remember him to this day. The actions he took to really make sure I would make it as a young believer was genuine. To this day I am very thankful for people the Lord has placed in my life. I thank God because as we grow as christians we need to surround ourselves with the right people that will encourage our dreams and goals for God. The dictionary describes a mentor has a trusted guide, being mentored in your walk is essential. God will always provide the right friends for you and also provide mentors that will help you in your walk. I thank God for my Pastor,for many years he has been a mentor that I can trust when it comes to making important decisions or simple advice.
In the bible Timothy had a great mentor in the faith and he was encouraged to be the best for God. Paul never stopped believing in him as a young man to being the best. Now there are some practical steps you can take to acheive the goals you set for the Lord.
1. Begin to pray and write a few thoughts down, 2. Share with someone you can trust and ask them to be a trusted guide in your life. 3. Begin a monthly huddle with your mentor for advice and insight,this is very important in your process of growth because your mentors have been there and can give you some great insight.
“Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7).
God’s Word gives us wonderful guidance on what attitudes and actions we are to display toward our spiritual leaders. Use the following questions to help evaluate how you can better love and support those who shepherd you,mentor you and honor God in the process! Something I pray for is my leaders and mentors, our prayer this morning should be geared towards those that have spoken a timely word in our lives in seasons where we needed them….
Seeing through God’s Eyes
Just recently I have been doing research on certain lens that will give me different views when it comes to filming shots. I have been facinated by some of the lens that I have discovered to give me certain shots that will really reveal the story I put on tape. For example the super wide angle lens that will give me a better focus on the subject I am filming. According to wikipedia a Longer lens magnify the subject more, apparently compressing distance. I may not be an expert in regards to photography, however this stood out to me in how God views us. See, everyone has a point of view about themselves and how they perceive themselves.
The bible tells us in proverbs, so a man thinks so is he. There is power in our thoughts and especially when we see ourselves as God sees us. Many times we think we cannot serve God or be used by God because we feel were not good enough, but I’m convinced that God has a bigger plan for us. In the book of Proverbs chapter 16:1-4 the bible says “To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The LORD works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster”
We must first see ourselves as God sees us, many times we only get focused on the circumstances or situations that discourage us from our faith. But God calls you and I to be more than a conquerer. Conquering to fulfill his purpose and plans. A few simple things to reflect on today. 1. Take some time to to pray and begin to read God’s word over your life, the word is what changes and transforms us to be that victoroius Christian. 2. Write down the vision and plan for yourself and begin to see yourself acheiving the goals you set as the Lord leads you and the last point , get around some people that will believe in what you see whenever it comes to living what you beleive you need to get around the people that will believe in you…
Trust me you want to be able to see things in God’s point of view and not your own. Trust and see that Lord is good!!
Moving Into Excellence
One of the most craziest things that I just love in life is moving. Moving at times can be exciting and moving at times can be a trial. Looking back a few years ago I remember my move from my hometown Santa Maria, Ca to Los Angeles, Ca. I was so excited to move because at that time I was getting ready to move into the Urban Training Center to live on campus to be part of the mentorship program. Looking back I remember renting a uhaul trailor and had brought some extra things that I thought I had needed. At that point in my life it was all or nothing I was totally excited for the big move in my life. And now reflecting on that moment in my life, I’m thinking that I could been allright without all those extra things.
I believe when we move we tend to always pack a few extra things, I know there are things that can be sentimental however the things that you may not need we still tend to bring along and that at times can take up too much.
When you think about moving into excellence, becoming excellent for God is one my goals this year to grow as a Christian. Moving does allow you to pack a few things away and will cause you to make a decision whether or not you want to take it with you to the place your moving to. When it comes to us growing in our faith, we have to make decisions on what we need to take with us to that next level of excellence Paul describes in the bible how we should grow as Christians
“But just as you excel in everything … in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us … see that you also excel in this grace of giving” (2 Corinthians 8:7).
One desire I have is to really evaluate the things I can move with me and the things that I need to leave.Take some time to reflect on what you need to do to move into the next level for God. For some of you there can be some people around you or it could be that you need to be at church to challenge yourself to excel, whatever it may be keep your faith challenged…..
Say No To The Donut!
21 days into the new year and its the new you right! Well, today is a great day besides the fact my boss came and offered me a donut. I mean its like you want to meet your health and fitness goals and you want to do it big and then all of a sudden you get hit with a temptation. I mean if your like me I love Dounts and I can say its one of my weaknesses my other is pizza..My mission and goal this year is to stay healty and fit. But a lot has to do with what you eat and how much you excercise so to stay on track I’m going to say no to the donut…..
When you think about your faith and the discipline you need to keep your spiritual life fit its important to say no to the things that can distract you from growing in faith, I mean its like when your on a streak it seems like the enemy knows and trys to divert you from excelling in faith.I look at it like this keep praying keep fighting and you will see the results. God’s word will never come back void and it will accomplish what is set forth to do. Being fit is about being healthy, create a spiritual plan that will keep you healthy and challenge in your faith.
Listen if your on a spiritual growth plan…STICK TO IT….and so no to the donuts…..
Team Ministry For The Now Gen…..
This month we have been meeting as a ministry team and let me tell you God has given us such a momentum, I am so excited to do youth ministry this year like never before. This past sunday night we were discussing ways to impart and disciple into our next generation and to fuel their faith for Jesus. One thing I believe is that we have such a great team, I know our young people are blessed. One of my goals is to envision our leaders to be their best for God and to challenge themselves to excel in their ministry. Next week as a team we are dedicating a night of prayer to pray for our youth and the city. I’m beleiveing God for the unexpected in our youth ministry and I believe he will do something phenominal. Here are some things I will be sharing on Sunday with our team and interns.
Five Essentials that I will be sharing
1. The team must embrace the vision-
- God gave a burden to rebuild the walls of jerusalem. After he seen the walls destroyed, he began to pray and fast to the Lord as he interceded for the people. The Lord gave him a vision.
- As a team we must embrace the vision and look beyond the appearance , God has called the G.A.N.G. to reach hurting young people and many times we fall into the danger of how are we going to build this rather than build the people. The team must embrace the vision and mission of God’s Anointed Now Generation.
2. Every Person on the Team must know their role.
- Each person has value and should be in their power-spot. If its evangelism then it needs to be evangelism, if its junior high then jr high. How many times as youth leaders do we put people in a place of ministry and find out that its not their passion or gifting to be there.
- We must evaluate the passion of our youth leaders and direct them to where God can raise them up to be the best they can be.
- Remember ” When One Wins, We all Win”
3. The Team Must have Chemistry-
- This is vitally important because if anyone on the team don’t like each other or like working with each other then the results can be negative. This is what I call a lot of dropped balls and there will be no rhythm on how ministry can get done.
- That is why its important that team building is emphasis, some ideas are to hang out once a month and fellowship with one another. Or maybe have dinner together and share laughs.
- As the team builds in this then you will begin to each team player want to give their best at any cost, trust their life with one another, share blessings and victories.
4. The team must value communication-
- How many times have heard or even said ‘ I didnt know about it” That could be one frustration that can setback a powerful team.
There are three things to strive for in communication with the team and they are
- Consistency – There must be consistency in coomunicating the vision and plans for ministry
- Clarity- There must be clear direction and understanding of the vision, this is the part where WE MUST SLOW DOWN and be clear..
- Courtesy- We must be kind to one another and not abuse any position we may have on the team.
5. The team must know how to gracefully resolve any CONFLICTS ( hello)
Some steps to settle some unresolved conflicts are
- Speak the truth in love ( You will need to speak because you care and not that you are trying to jam the person)
- Seek to understand the others point of view.
- Seek to understand common ground.
- Make expectations clear.
- NO THIRD PARTY HE said , She Said. LOL Thats a faithful one
Remember we can not build the G.A.N.G. all by our selves we will need a powerful team to explode our youth ministry and God has blessed the G.A.N.G. with people that can make a difference. Just Nehemiah , he could not do it on his own but God raised up a team.
I Surrender
Just recently I downloaded a cool app on my iphone called 5-0 radio and all I got to say is that this is really cool. 5-0 radio is an actual app that you can tune in and listen in to the local police dispatch. Just to keep it simple, its a police scanner. Last week, there was an interesting call that came on and what had happen was that there was a man who actually robbed a car lot, after a few calls on the radio, the man actually got away and there was a high speed chase on him. All I kept hearing was the man was resisting arrest and did not want to surrender. I mean they had chased him all over San Diego and I felt like I was part of the show “Cops” hahaha. As I was thinking about this chase,it reminded me how we can be with the Lord at times when he is challenging us to surreneder it all to him. Many times he sends the Holy Spirit to chase us to get our attention so we can turn to him. Many times we think the word surrender is a negative thing and because it associates with being in trouble we often don’t like to surrender.
I don’t think when it comes to God that he puts a gun to our heads and makes us surrender to him.No, when we surrender our hearts to him that simply means that we are yielding our will to his. You know Gods plan is not to harm us but to prosper us. By simply surrendering ourselves to God, we are letting go of whatever can hold us back from becoming great for him. My desire for 2011 is to surrender to God areas of my life that may hold me back from being the best for him.
