Become Good Soil Intensive Facilitator s Final Words 2015

Transcription

1 Become Good Soil Intensive Facilitator s Final Words 2015 What do I hope my friends will say of me, around a campfire after my death: 1. He embodied love- no one has ever loved me more deeply 2. He carried God s presence comfortably and profoundly 3. Yes, he loved well and you could feel God s presence in him, but what I shall never forget is the joy- he was a Man of Joy For this to be true, I must provide good soil now. -Reed Grafke Must taste your children s blood, drawn by the enemy s sword to realize the intensity of the battle in which you pretend to engage. What Father cooks up for you, Savor! Good. Very good. Company good. Restaurant good. Close your eyes good. Savor. -Wild Will Hays May you enjoy the wife of your youth- she is your reward. Get really good at offering unapologetic no s so that we can say yes to God, your wife, yourself, your relationships. -Aaron McHugh!1

2 Radically face the truth of who God is, who you are in the depths of your brokenness, and who you are in the full weight of your glory. As you do, own the pain and let God s pursuing love and grace fill every pore of your being. Just like every pore of this sponge is filled with water. Then in the pressures of life, when you are squeezed love will pour out. Never, ever, ever give up. -Larry Bolden I love being married I love God s original marriage design- in the beginning before sin entered the story. Looking back over my life I ve had many jobs- but being a husband by far is the best job I ve ever had (and marriage is so much more than a job ) -Tim Evans Isaiah 66/ John 1 Love is patient and kind, love doesn t sell it s own way, love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things & forgives- keeping no record of wrongs God is love and invites you to come and see that love never fails. He has given you a Co- Warrior Bride to join together in life s journey. Proverbs 31:10: Virtuous is valiant. Choose love. Risk love with your Co-Warrior. Put down your pen at 5pm and pray, laugh, love, rest with her, and your family with Abba because love never fails. -Mark Woods Cultivate a Sabbath lifestyle and frame of reference. Write your eulogy now as you d like it and live toward that- what do you want those to you love to say about you when you cross over? -Rande Bruhn Learn the art of listening. From a friend of mine: Jesus spends most of the time with one hand on my shoulder, and the other one over my mouth. -Jim Morrison!2

3 God IS love God IS very good Receive his love in your heart Live fully in his love Relationships are key Comparison is of the devil -David Uher This has been your time, a special gift of time. A timely message at the right time is precious! Time moves fast- it s diminishing I wish I had your time. Time to find the Father s Agenda about your time. Time for change, quality time, time for sonship, savor time, time to dig, take time to live life to the full. -Dave Tolman It s all bullshit, if you can t/don t love. Become a lifelong student and apprentice of love. Receive love from the Father as Beloved Sons and then give it away. Cheers, Warrior Poets. I am your Beloved Son, I AM your Beloved Son, Papa, my Abba, I will open my heart to receive YOUR love, your grace and your mercy and I ll recover it, give it away all the days of my life. -Mark Weaver Jen Bollok Michel writes, Struggle is an apt word for describing what happens between the moments when God meets us with unwanted surprises and we relent to his goodness Struggle is the prerequisite to surrender. Teach Us to Want, p. 110 I have been a believer for 44 years and I spent most of those years struggling to surrender to God s love because of the Servant Identity I adopted as a young Christian. From this long struggle to surrender, I am finally living in the richness and freedom of my Identity that I m God s Son, His Beloved, His Favorite. -Terry Mitchell!3

4 Be intentional to: -Choose God and soul care to start your day *God will order the rest of the day -Choose life *Don t settle, we have a God of abundance, not mediocrity -Choose margin *It will give your soul moments of rest -Choose desire over duty *Desire is life giving, duty is life taking -Laugh often *It s food for your soul. It creates vulnerable connection and restores the heart. -Kyle Barber Don t give way to hopelessness. You ve heard the saying, things never change, or it s hopeless. Accepting this can give way to hopelessness and resignation. I believe it s a lie straight from the pit of hell. The fact is, things change all the time. People change. You are not the same men who walked in here Thursday night, and in Christ, things, you, your situation change for the better all the time. Eph. 3, Ps. 62:5-6. Give your heart to hope. -Brad Beck Leading a safe life is way overrated. Dive deeply and with wild abandon into the great adventure Jesus has planned for your life. Do not settle for less. -Scott Ptak!4

5 He does not make them the Sons of God, but gives them the power to become the Sons of God. In choosing and obeying the truth, man becomes the true Son of the Father of Lights. George McDonald We will never come into the deep vast love and life that the Father has stored up for us, until we come into a realization of a moment by moment dependency of Him. Strength yielded is what we lay down, substituting the life that we think we should have, exchanging it for the life that he would freely give He is asking you to do this. -Jim Winney Gal. 5 Choose to lighten up. Choose to play. Choose to be kind to yourself. Aloha! -Sam Ainslie Make margin in your life or life will make margin for you and it will be painful. IF you have one foot in the past (shame, guilt and regret). AND you have one foot in the future (fear and fantasy). You are spread-eagle pissing on today. Embrace Today! -Chuck Bolton Eat, slower. Walk, slower. Make love to your wife, slower. Slow down and keep it simple. Do it all, slower. -Jim Wright!5

6 Embrace and keep your eyes fixes on your truest identity. I am a son, in the image of God, I am Love, I am Pure, True, Creator, a World Changer. Never confuse who I am with my behavior, what I ve done, or do. That is true for your wife and kids also. I become what I believe is truest about me. Embrace the journey to become the kind of man whose actions as an apprentice of Jesus easily match that true identity. Just be who we truly are. -Bob Gentzler Let God Interpret the Dream! In Genesis 40:8, The Cupbearer and Baker are disturbed because of their dreams and Joseph s response was, Do not interpretations belong to God? So often I wanted to not only control and arrange for my future, I also want to be in charge of the meaning/interpretation. At 52, I am just learning to allow God to interpret. Num. 6: Todd Anderson Since the garden, the edge of Satan s attack is always to call into question God s goodnessby this, in the darkness, he will seek to convince you that God is not good. Settle first the issue, no matter what happens, no matter what s happened, that axiom that God is GOOD. He is actually, really, genuinely, unalterably good. No matter what happens, then you will be able to rightly interpret your life. The key to joy (marriage, kids, work) is settling that issue and keeping it settled. -Randy Lawrence Our Gracious Father has provided healing and joy throughout our time together here as he promised. I will cherish this time forever. I will pray that each of you continue to be blessed in your heart and by our Father as a Beloved Son. I have the honor of being part of His fathering process in all of you men. May the joy of the Lord follow you all of your days as you place your hope in him. Is. 40:31 -Bob Strom!6

7 Never give up. Never give up. Never give up. When you fall, get up and don t look back. Receive the promise of forgiveness and keep going. There will be seasons when you can run but there will also be seasons when crawling is the best you can do. Keep moving towards your Father. Is. 40:31 -Russell Grigsby Cultivate a Sabbath lifestyle and frame of reference. Write your eulogy now as you d like it and live toward that- what do you want those to you love to say about you when you cross over? -Rande Bruhn I have a young son and a big truck. He loves to ride with me. He doesn t sit in the back seat where there s plenty of room. He doesn t even sit in the passenger seat. No, he pulls himself in and immediately flips up the console/drink holder between the two main front seats. He slides over to sit right next to me. Leg touching leg. Arm touching arm. It s funny...he doesn t care where we go. Doesn t even ask. He s there for the shared adventure. He knows I m the driver. He doesn t ask if I have enough gas. Or know the directions. Or remembered my wallet. He is content to be with me and ride. God has a big truck. And you are his son. He's inviting you to ride with him. And the key word is "with". It's something he longs to do with you. And you don't need to worry if he knows where he's going or has enough money to cover the trip. In fact, the more you try to control the trip, the more certain you can be that you are traveling solo - as an orphan instead of a son. And any story you can tell without God is too small of a story. There's a psalm I see as a sonship psalm. It's Psalm 27:14 and the Message translation says it like this: "Stay with God. Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again, Stay with God." That's the invitation. To do this journey "with" God. So much so that he says the same phrase twice. So we won't wander. So we'll stay with him. So we'll jump in his truck as his son and enjoy the ride together. -Allen Arnold!7

8 Who shall we send? Here am I. Send me. Isaiah 6 Jesus is looking for men who are willing. If you are willing, He will make you ready. And all heaven goes with you. -Riley Fudickar Above all else, guard your heart. The gift to you is you have been made its caretaker. It s like a treasure hidden in secret places you have to excavate and discern. Be intentional toward developing your heart. It is like a garden, the more you tend to it, the more fruit you will bear. Develop it. Be relentless. Develop it. Be relentless. -Mike Woodham 1. Own your brokenness ~Repentance is your friend ~Its where life in the Gospel begins ~Its the work of the Cross 2. Look for and recieve the Father's love ~not merely the knowledge of His love but the experience of His love ~Experience of his love grows out of our grateful heart ~Joy is the baromenter of the Father"s love 3. Risk loving courageously ~Its the most noble of motives ~Love cast out our fears & empowers our giftedness ~Most courageous way to live -Bart Hansen!8