What's next?

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

Embrace Grace

Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace, you have been saved, through faith, not or your works, it's a gift of God."

*As a leader in the Church, we've gotta do church simple!

• Either Teach you something new about Jesus.
• Or Remind you of something that you've forgotten.

Grace is God meeting man at our point of need in the person of the Lord Jesus.

• Grace & Faith are both gifts of God.
• Faith is nothing more than a response to grace.
• If you remove grace from your faith, all you have is self-effort & self-will.
• Anytime you preach on faith, you must preach on the object of our faith, which is Jesus.
• Faith alone doesn't come by preaching on faith apart from Jesus. Faith preaching, just on faith, leads us to believing in our faith. Or having faith in our faith.

1. Grace is always first.
2. Then Faith.
3. Then Works.

• If we get the order wrong, there will be a lot of frustration, anxiety, and confusion in your life.
• Here in America we know "good works" better than grace & faith. It's "what can I do? It's great what Jesus done, but what do I have to do?"
• So we end up focusing on what we have to do, but what we have to do, has no relevance, no meaning, until we understand what He has done! - What we do is in response to what He had done!
•  Faith in faith? Good works in good works? -That's "Do Good-ism" & we're no better or different than any other belief system.
• Grace is our order in our belief system!
• Grace is always first in scripture. John 1:17
• Why? Cause Jesus is always first.
• Jesus is the personification of grace. - with out Jesus there is no grace.
• What is faith without grace? A dead end!

1. If we preach Jesus.
2. If we preach the Gospel.
3. If we preach Grace.

• Faith happens. Then Works happen. 
• Faith is a response to grace. Works is a reflection of that response.
• Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by works you have been saved, through self-effort, this is of yourselves, and is your gift to God."
•  For many of us, that's how we live our life.
• If you wanna grow in your faith, grow in the knowledge of Jesus.
• It's about Jesus!... So that means: We've gotta preach Jesus! We've gotta worship Jesus! We've gotta honor Jesus!
• Jesus is the object of our faith. He is the object of our Love. He is the object of our obsession. He is the reason we do good works. He is the reason we believe.
• What we should understand the most in Grace, Faith, & Works.. is Grace, and if we do, faith will come!
• When you see the Cross, you have confidence in grace.
• This is the life of Freedom & Liberty.
• There is grace fro each and every person! It's by grace, and  grace alone you can be who God is calling us to be.
• Apart from grace, we are most people doomed and pathetic, we can do nothing apart from God's grace!
• Ready or not, Here grace comes! You don't have to go looking for grace, cause it's been looking for you.
• Alot of the time when grace comes, we don't fully understand it. So we don't know how to react to it.
• We sing & talk about it, but really don't know what it is.
• Grace is much more a person, than a principal. 
• Jesus himself is the personification of grace. *John 1:17
• Anytime Jesus show's up grace come with him.
• If you're looking for grace, you don't have to look for a feeling, warm fuzzy, sermon, podcast, twitter, etc.. just look for Jesus.
• Grace has been so mis-used. 
• We tend to use it as our "get out of jail card" Live like hell, Monday-Saturday, and on Sunday get your grace on..
• When you meet grace, and look into the eyes of fire of grace, and you see grace for who He is.. it will Not lead you into sin, but Righteousness,  and be the fuel to your holiness in your life.
• We have gotta see His unconditional Love He has for us, that He accomplished on the cross.

*REDEFINE GRACE:

• It is more than favor, it's a force, it's the person of Jesus. And it's the life you've always dreamed of in your journey with Jesus.
• To understand why Jesus did what he did, you gotta understand who He is.
• He did what He did, because He was who He was.
• So If you wanna do what Jesus did, you gotta understand who He is, and become like him. And to become like Him, you can do what He did.
• Alot of us are trying to do what Jesus did, and not become who He was, so our Christianity will die. And apart from grace, it's impossible.
• We've gotta become like Jesus, to live like Jesus.

• Luke 15:19 - We think we're not worthy.

*Jesus said it himself, in John 3:3-7, you MUST be born again. Meaning baptism. 

• To become a child of God, you gotta believe & be baptized. It's nothing we do,but what He already did on the cross.
• You are never a son by worth, you are a son by birth!
• Worth has nothing to do with it. Its not about working to be worthy, living to be worthy, trying hard enough to be worthy.
• You are who you are by the grace of God!
• If God loves you now, and he know's what you're gonna do later or next summer, but He still loves you!

• Luke 15:20 - Long distance away, and the father saw him.

*All of our things and ways we try to get back to God, when we're far from him are in our efforts, are still gonna be a long distance away. 

"Grace is not man coming to God, Grace is God coming to man."

• God initiates, we simply respond. All of our faith is a response! 
• 1 John 4:19 - "We love, cause He, Jesus, First loved us!"
• He came to us, we respond. 
• He died on a cross, we respond.

-Repentance ..... Response.

-Worship .... Response.

-Holiness ..... Response.

-Giving ..... Response.

-Prayer ..... Response.

• Jesus initiated us, so that we can be in a loving relationship with him, and its' our job to respond!
• Don't get it twisted - The help of man is useless. God and God alone can save you, deliver you, forgive you, heal you, and make you something... and without Him, you're nothing.
• We don't go on mission trips just because it's fun, or people are in need. Anyone can go help somebody. But it's the Holy Spirit inside us that is going to lead us to help someone. It's the love of Jesus.
• It's out testimony, we were a great way off, far from God, and He saw us! So no matter how far you are today, God sees  you!

• Luke 15:20B
• The father ran. In that culture middle eastern men didn't run for nothing. Jesus is trying to communicate crazy love.
• We can't even understand ho much our God loves us. We can't even scratch the surface of His crazy love.
• So what are you gonna do today because grace is running toward  you.
• These are our excuses: *I'm not worthy. *I gotta get things right first.
• What we need to do is Let Jesus come and wrap His grace around you, and let grace empower you to live a life you only dreamed of.
• This doesn't make since, cause we've been taught at a young age, cause and effect. For every cause, there is an effect. But when it comes to grace, we just receive effect. We did nothing to cause it. And it's very difficult for us to understand that.
• The cause is Christ, and we receive the effects of His love.
• There must be repentance! Grace is not grace without truth.
• Thats greasy grace. Truth is what makes grace, grace. So there must be truth in what you've done.
• Romans 2:4 - "It's His kindness that leads us to repentance.
• Alot of us are trying to plot our way back to God, and you need to just STOP.
• Ephesians 2:8 - "You are saved by grace, through faith not of your works, it's a gift from God."
• Stop and let God's presence to embrace your past, present, and future. Become who you are by the grace of God, and respond to the love of our father.
• Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that He is God."
• His Grace is undeserved. We done nothing to get it. We just receive it.
• Often a man's empty good deeds are a greater hindrance to him receiving God's grace.
• The religious mind set cannot understand the grace of God. Because law centered, brings you to self centered. But when you become grace centered, you become God centered and others focused!
• The law could never understand Grace.
• We're taught, "you get what you deserve."
• But the gospel, grace, teaches us the opposite. No one else has our message. No one else says what we say. Grace.
• Grace is God meeting man at his point of need, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• We've gotta embrace grace. For grace is the scandalous love of God.
• It's scandalous what Jesus did for us. He took our place.

*Psalm 25:7 - "Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth, look instead through the eyes of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord."

• So many of us are concerned about our past, our mistakes, and what we need to do is obsess over Jesus' finished work for you, that He has taken your place, and has set you free.
• Jesus became sin, so that could become righteous.
• John 8:36 - "So if the Son has set you free, you're free indeed!"  

My life.. Update

Don't Let Past Mistakes Rob You Of An Amazing Future!

Hey pastor, church leader…

So, your ministry hasn’t exactly been what you thought it would be?

You have pain, regrets, frustrations and disappointments…and…the problem is that IF we are not careful we will allow our past ministry mistakes and shortcomings to define us rather than propel us to a greater understanding of Christ and the call that He placed on our lives.

Our past only defines us when we lose sight of the future Christ has for us.

Reality is this…if He called you into ministry then He has greater plans for you than you could ever imagine…and THE calling on our lives is to NOT GIVE UP (Galatians 6:9!)

"So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up."

As I look back on a 2 year history of doing ministry in the context I really can see lots and lots of mistakes I made…but rather than allowing them to define and defeat me, which often times I do, I use them to DELIVER me into the reality that HE KNEW every stupid, foolish and sinful mistake I would ever make…and yet He still called me, equipped me and chose me for this task!

He told Peter that he knew denial was coming…and yet restored him…and Peter’s biggest failure paved the way to a ministry that is STILL impacting us to this day!

Today is the first day of the rest of your ministry…HE who called you is with you and will complete in you and through you what He began (Philippians 1:6) " And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

– so fix your eyes on Him, because life is too short to allow regrets that Christ paid for to dominate our lives!

"The Church" - Elevation Worship

To Live is Christ by Trip Lee (Philippians)

The Perfect Message

One of the things that can be most paralyzing to speakers and pastors when they are preparing to teach or preach is their awareness of their own imperfection. It can downright cripple your ability to believe that God can use you to do anything of substance in people’s lives.

But the reality is you still have a message to deliver. And it’s the most relevant and powerful message in the history of the world. People desperately need it and you can’t afford to hesitate to deliver it.

So pastors, from now on before you preach or do anything God asks you to do, pray this prayer:

“I’m not a perfect messenger, but this is a perfect message.”

Your life isn’t perfect. You have sins and struggles.
Your delivery isn’t perfect. You could always improve every aspect of it.

But your message is perfect because it’s Jesus’ message. And He is perfect. His life was perfect. His death was perfect. His resurrection was perfect. His Word is perfect. And God’s promise that His word will never return void is perfect.

You’re not perfect, but Jesus has never and will never need you to be. He already has that covered. He has called you to preach His message and it’s perfect. And that’s what ultimately matters.

Your imperfection never cripples Jesus. Don’t ever allow it to cripple you.

Sun Stand Sill.

"On Bended Knee" Music Video from Dae-Lee on Vimeo.

Mexio update

Philip's update to Mexico

The Kingdom of God..

To teach about the kingdom of God, you must first live the kingdom of God in your own life.
That's when you'll be effective, that's when you'll start to find favor, that's when you'll be blessed, that's
when the world will turn to you and hate you. That's why people were so attracted to Jesus, cause His life was about the Kingdom. He lived out the kingdom. He was about the father's business. He done nothing apart from what he saw His father in heaven doing. It's about being obedient to Jesus in every part of your life. Finances, relationships, etc...  The Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Jesus with this attitude, you will please God.


The Kingdon of God is not just fancy talk, it is living by Gods power. As a person who is put in charge
you must  be faithful, cause the Lord will examine you and decide. What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own? Your  dedication to Jesus makes you look like a fool to the world. People are gonna laugh at you, let them laugh! They're gonna mock you, let them mock! I know very well how foolish the message of the corss sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. There is Holy Spirit filled power in the gospel. He uses that power to pierce right into a persons heart.

Philip update

My life be like..Update

Take heart, We serve a Sovereign God.

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."
-Isaiah 41:13

This Scripture speaks to so many of us that are going through any kind of struggle. This is a promise of God. We can stand on that and when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, just proclaim and speak that over our life. Jesus is involved in each of our life's. He carefully mapped out every inch of our journey's through this day, even though much of it may feel haphazard. Because the world is in a fallen condition, things always seem to be unraveling around the edges. Expect to find trouble in this day. At the same time, trust that Jesus' way is perfect, even in the midst of such messy imperfection. Stay conscious of Jesus as you go through this day, remembering that He never leaves your side. Let the Holy Spirit guide you step by step, protecting you from unnecessary  trials and equipping you to get through whatever must be endured. As you trudge through the sludge of this fallen world, keep your mind in heavenly places with Jesus. Thus the Light of His Presence shines on you, giving you Peace and Joy that circumstances cannot touch.

-Psalm 18:30
-Isaiah 41:13

Jesus is all around us, like a cocoon of Light. His Presence with you is a promise, independent of your awareness of Jesus. Many things can block this awareness, but the major problem is worry. We as children of God, tend to accept worry as an inescapable face of life. However, worry is a form of unbelief. Who is in charge of your life? If it is you, then you have good reason to worry. But if it is Jesus, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive. When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to   Jesus. Back off a bit, redirecting your focus to Him. Jesus will either take care of the problem Himself or show you how to handle it. In this world you will have problems, but you need not lose sight of Jesus.

-Luke 12:22-31
-John 16:33

Axis Church Update

My life.. Update.

Hey, what's up everyone.

I hope you're doing well. I've still been struggling a little bit here in Pismo Beach, but the Lord is doing a work in me and i'm starting to find out more about why He has called me to the Central Coast of California. I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of my supporters. I couldn't be doing this without ya'll. I'm really excited about what God is doing in me here. He has been teaching me a lot about my attitude toward others, and how i'm suppose to be loving Him with everything i have, and to be loving others. I'm so thankful that His mercies are new for me everyday single day.

So i want to give ya'll a update on what I've been doing and what i'll be doing here in the central coast. The past 2 weeks I've been on my staff orientation. The other staff members have been teaching me about YWAM's history, calling & values. We've been going over our vision and goal for 2010 as a base. This is YWAM's 50th year as a non-profit Christian international organization, so we're planning on going to Mexico in September for our staff outreach, and right after that i'll be going back to Haiti for 10 days. I'm really excited about  these two outreaches. The cost for both of these outreaches together, for my ticket, expenses, food, lodging, transportation, etc.. is gonna be roughly $2,000. So i have some time to raise support and prepare. Since I've been here, I've been out skateboarding a lot and meeting tons of new people. I've gotten to speak at a local surf shop bible study about what God's doing in my life, and I'm speaking at a Sunday night  worship service on June 6th. God is SO good. God's favor has been all over me. One thing God has put on my heart is to start a skateboarding ministry. One thing that i have learned in scripture and from being in Haiti is that i have to be involved and be out of my comfort zone to build relationships with my community. So with that said, I need your prayers, and support. 

PRAYER REQUEST:

• Understanding on how to raise support better
• That i would trust God in providing for me and not people.
• Attitude
• My relationship with Sara. (my girlfriend)
• How to be a positive and Godly influence amongst my Pre-Christian friends
• More of God’s presence
• Relationships amongst staff will grow stronger
• A vehicle
• My body - it's sore from skateboarding.
• Vision for skate ministry.

If you are interested in partnering with me financially to help me do what God is calling me to do, then you can call me @ (828) 308-7237, or email me @ causeyphilip@gmail.com or check out " I want to support Philip" on the right hand side of the page, there is info on how you can send money.

Thank you so much

Blessings,

Philip Causey

My New House..

Just wanted to show everyone where i'll be living at. I"ll post better pictures and more pictures soon. Hope you enjoy!!

Philip Blog

OVERWHELMED BY A RELENTLESS GOD.

I'm in awe of God. Why do we have such an amazing God that is full of unfailing love and compassion?
Full of grace and mercy. So quick to forgive us and love us. Each day God opens my eyes to Him more and more. I am so glad that He is in control and not me. That's a constant reminder for me everyday. It's like i forget who He is and what He has done in my life. I just wanna be holy and set apart for God's glory. I want people to see Jesus in me and not Philip. That's something God is really teaching me, is that life isn't about Philip Causey. The Bible says, that everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus and is intended for His glory. So the world doesn't need more of Philip, it needs more of Jesus Christ. Do you want people to know you more, than you want people to know Jesus? We've gotta be kingdom spirited people for this lost and broken world to know Jesus. We've gotta stop thinking about all the things that distract us from God, like girlfriend/boyfriends, ipods, t.v., friends, sports, cellphones, internet etc... As the church of Jesus Christ, we've gotta step up and stand in the gap and interceed for this world that is going to hell. If God's mercy didn't exist, there would be no hope, but Jesus Christ and repentance is our only hope. We need more encounters with God. We can't keep walking in the motions and doing church, we've gotta start being the church. Going out and being salt and light in this dark world. We are the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus. We've gotta act like we have the Holy Spirit living in us so we can show the love of Christ to everyone we come in contact with. My prayer is that we would be a people that would make the tough choices, that we wouldn't be afraid or intimidated by the world, but we would rise up as His church, across the earth, a people dedicated to being His hands and feet to run the race for the least of these, for the lost, broken, and the hurting. And we would take what He has done in our hearts and run into this world to see His name lifted high.

The very fact that a holy, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, merciful, fair, and just God loves you and me. The wildest part is that Jesus doesn't have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn't need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooeses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us. That really is amazing beyond description. The holy Creator sees us as His "glorious inheritance." The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time. One might ask, "Why would a loving God force us to love Him?" God doesn't force us to love Him, it's our choice. But if God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn't draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself?) The greatest good on this earth is God. Period. God's one goal for us is Himself. The Good News, the best news in the world, in fact is that we can have God Himself. OUr love for Him always comes out of His love for us. Do you love this God who is everything, or do you just love love everything He gives you? Do you really know and believe that God loves you, individually and personally and intimately? Do you see and know Him as Abba, Father?

The Movie of life...

1. God creates the world.
2. The people rebel against God, then God floods the earth to rid it of the mess people made of it.
3. Several generations later, God singles out a 99 year-old man called Abram and makes him the father of a nation.
4. Later, along come Joseph and Moses and many other ordinary and inadequate people that the movie is also not about. God is the one who picks them and directs them and works miracles through them.
5. In the next scene, God sends judges and prophets to His nation because the people can't seem to give Him the one thing He asks of them (obedience).
6. And then, the climax: The Son of God is born among the people whom God still somehow loves. While in this world, the Son teaches His followers what true love looks like. Then the Son of God dies and is resurrected and goes back up to be with God.
7. And even though the movie isn't quite finished yet, we know what the last scene hold. It's the throne room of God. Here every being worships God who sits on the throne, for He alone is worthy to be praised.

From start to finish, this movie is obviously about God. He is the main character. How is it possible that we live as though it is all about us? Our scenes in the movie, our brief lives, fall somewhere between the time Jesus ascends into heaven (Acts) and when we will all worship God on His throne in heaven (Revelation).
1st Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." So what does that mean for you? Frankly, you need to get over yourself. It might sound harsh, but that's seriously what it means.
Maybe life's pretty good for you right now. God has given you this good stuff so that you can show the world a person who enjoys blessings, but who is still totally obsessed with God.
Or maybe life is tough right now, and everything feels like a struggle. God has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard. Like the psalmist who wrote, "I saw the prosperity of the wicked... Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure.. When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God." (Ps.73:3,13,16-17). It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others'. But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.
To be brutally honest, it doesn't really matter what place youfind yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory. The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing.
God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift.

Newsletter

YOUTH WITH A MISSION

Pismo Beach & Central Coast

Hello friends and family. I just want to thank everyone for walking with me in this new season of my life. 2009 was an amazing year for me. To all that don't know, I went to Pismo Beach, California last January to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with an organization called Youth With a Mission (YWAM). I spent the first 4 months in lecture phase knowing God and spent the last 2 months on outreach, living in South India making God known. After my time with YWAM I felt God leading me to join staff. I got a phone call while I was living in Haiti telling me that i got accepted, so now I'm preparing to enter into this new season of my life that God is leading me into. 2010 already has been amazing. God has been teaching me so much more about himself and who I am in Jesus Christ. As I continue following Jesus, I'll be moving back to Pismo Beach, California on April 20th for 5 years, as a full-time missionary, working with YWAM. Our main focus is to know God and make him known though-out the world with The Great Commisson. My passion is to see young people devote themselves into being the hands and feet of our Lord and King Jesus Christ, and being light and salt in this dark and broken world. We will continue to reach the ends of this world, by being living vessels of God's love, Intercession, Worship, and Evangelism to declare our God's passion to make Himself known to his children. With this opportunity, not only will I be going as a leader, I'll be discipling, baptizing, and teaching other believers to obey all the commands that Jesus gave us.

Because of YWAM's unique nature as a missionary base, all volunteers raise their own support. Thankfully, I feel like God is going to be using me in more ways that I know as I'm being called to declare the love, grace, mercy, compassion, and forgiveness of God that last forever through what Jesus done for us on the cross. Brothers and Sisters, as God is preparing me to leave in April, I ask that you would walk with me in any of the following ways. First and most importantly, Please walk with me in Prayer. Whether you commit to once a week or everyday I ask you once again to cover my every step in the spiritual realms. There is no greater gift than to be covered by the body of Christ. For as the Apostle Paul states, "The battle we fight is not of flesh and blood, but of the spirit." Second, I humbly ask that you walk with me financially. This past year it's been an honor to be a representative of not only myself but of the community behind me. Whether your support manifests as prayer, encouragement, or finances, it's an honor to represent everyone of you wherever our God leads me on this Earth. To be able to be used by God to bring the good new of his heart to the nations, makes my decision to leave my life in North Carolina worth it all. So as I walk into this new year and season of my life, I ask that you prayerfully consider walking with me on this new journey.

As I staff with YWAM, my financial goal is to raise $1200 a month. This will take care of living expenses, food, insurance, communication, and future opportunities to wherever the Lord calls me. Much like the disaster in Haiti, moments occur in life where time is not always on our side for preparation. This is why a budget is necessary so that we do not plan our lives around one mission trip at a time, but a continuous journey obeying the voice of the Lord. With whatever God puts into your heart I can't wait to see where God takes us this year. Thanks for all your love and support! Love you all more than you know.

Blessings,
Philip Causey

YWAM Pismo Beach
791 Price St. #119
Pismo beach, CA 93449

If you have any questions about support, give me a call, or email me.

828-308-7237
causeyphilip@gmail.com
http://www.philipcausey.blogspot.com/