fall creek falls

Fall Creek Falls 

Once a month we will be taking weekend retreats or getaways. This time is used to reflect and refocus. We will pull away from our busy schedules to reflect on the things the Lord has been teaching us. We will share with one another and just relax and enjoy the Lord. Theses retreats are a time for us to remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing. It is easy to let Trek-X become academic or informational, but this is far from what Trek-X is supposed to be. It is a Journey with Christ and it is to be experiential. When we take this time away, we ask God to refocus our hearts on Him alone. We're doing what we're doing for His glory- to make Him famous.

These are pictures from our first retreat in September (sorry I'm late on getting them up). We went to Fall Creek Falls a couple of hours out of Nashville. We canoed, hiked to the top of the waterfall, had a picnic, and took some time to reflect and rejuvenate and enjoy God's beautiful creation.

We will be going on our next retreat next weekend. We're going camping! Hope you all are having an amazing week. Much love..

Tomorrow begins our 8th week of Trek-X. I can hardly believe I've been in Nashville for two months. Things are starting to become more normal and relationships are being formed. I'm so excited about what the Lord is going to do in Nashville while we are here. The song "God of This City" comes to my mind..Greater things are yet to come. Our training and discipleship last week was jam-packed. We began an analysis of the Old Testament and also started reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. In our morning discipleship time we are still going through the book of Acts. As we search the Word, we continuously see how the Holy Spirit is always present when miracles, healings, etc. take place. This is a good reminder that we must always be full of the Spirit. The latter part of the week we dug in to chapter 10, where the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. As Peter went around preaching, he understood that the Lord was telling him to show no partiality among people. This reminded me how the Gentiles have been ADOPTED into the Kingdom. This is huge! We were not God's chosen people (Israel was), yet He chose to adopt us as His children. He shows no partiality. Praise God! 

Last week I was led to read a blog written by Katie, a young woman (21 years old) from Brentwood, TN who is dying to live. She has given up her life of wealth and comfort in the U.S. to live in a village in Uganda, Africa. It's a beautiful story. Katie has adopted 14 Ugandan children and gives her life away for the glory of the Father as she nourishes them and teaches them and LOVES them. She is a single woman, only 21 remember, who despite these children's past, despite the color of their skin, despite their filth and desperate need, has taken them in as her very own children and loves them unconditionally. As I sat in tears reading Katie's blog, I was reminded of the Gospel. Just like these precious children, I have been ADOPTED! By grace, through faith, I have been saved. It is not at all my own doing, but a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Despite my past, despite my filthy sin and desperate need, God sent His Son, and Jesus died for me. And He found great joy in doing so. And because of His Love for me, I live. I still can't wrap my mind around how incredibly amazing this is.
Please check out Katie's blog at http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/ and as you read some of the stories, think about the Grace and Love of Jesus Christ.

Week 7

Well... It was a long week guys, but a good one.  It was probably the deepest discipleship we've had yet as we started the well known book, The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer.  You may have read it before, but if not, it's like one of the top ten books for a Christians to read.  I actually saw lists online that said it was in the top ten.  Personally, I haven't read 10 Christian books in my lifetime.  Anyway,  it reads like it's talking to the church today, but it was written over 50 yrs ago!

The rest of the discipleship went well too.  We're still marching through Acts.  Saul experiences Christ on the road to Damascus and you've probably heard the story many times, but the main application I want to draw out of this is that Saul believed he was doing God a favor in persecuting the Way as it is called in Acts many times.  I've always taken it as Saul knew exactly what was going on and he was trying to go against God, but that's not the case.  He was killing Christians and thinking that he was doing God a favor to wipe these people off the face of the earth since they didn't line up with the Pharisee teachings.  So it must've absolutely messed Saul up to find out the Truth.  Of course, it's a good brokenness, but still... you can imagine his whole way of life be shaken! SO.... in thinking about this, I have to ask God (and myself), "What is there in my life that I've taken as truth that does not line up with your Word?" and.. in asking this, I have to be humble enough to open my ears up to what God's going to say...  Lately, God has unblinded my eyes to many lies that I took as truth my whole life just because someone told me that when I was young, and I never checked it with scripture.  So.. I encourage you to pray that prayer in some manner and see what it is that God wants to show you next... May your eyes be opened. (Acts 9:1-20)

This week we also had a guest come in from down under.  Martin, a professor from Sydney, Austrailia, joined us along with Benny Proffitt from First Priority.  We met and discussed Trek-X and the possibility of starting something in Austrailia (in the future) which resembled the same model that Trek-X uses (which is just a biblical model of discipleship).  It was a really interesting time, which was filled with a lot of wisdom ranging from spiritual warfare, to Western (American) Christianity, to the role of leadership in the church, to the path the gospel has taken across the globe, to trying to put new wine into old wine skins, etc... all of which was backed by scripture.  I think the part that amazed me the most was how the passage on the wineskins was broken down (Luke 5:33-39).  This passage helps me see a lot of the disfunction and complications that arise in the modern churches, but it also lets us know how to handle these "wineskin" issues that the church faces. Anyway.. there's been a lot of knowledge taken in this week, so pray that the same knowledge and wisdom will be given just as it was received.  Thanks for the prayers.  By the way, new verses for this week are Proverbs 24:11-12 if you're wanting to memorize.  Until next post, take care.

Bible Memorization

I wanted to let you know a little ahout this part of Trek-X.  Basically, I'll be learning approximately 100 verses this year which cover different topics such as the Word, witnessing, salvation, assurance of faith, etc. and I get to memorize a book of the Bible as well.  After praying and asking others in the faith whose opinion I respect, I chose... (drum roll).... EPHESIANS..  It's gonna be hard, but we shall see what happens.
Here are the verses I know word for word right now.  If you aren't memorizing scripture, I encourage you to start.
The Bridge verses
Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23
Hebrews 9:27
Romans 5:8
Ephesians 2:8-9
John 5:24
John 1:12
Revelation 3:20

The Word
Matthew 4:4
Hebrews 4:12
Jeremiah 15:16

This week I'm covering Matt 4:19 and Acts 1:8 as well for all you who want to join with me in the memorization.
Much Love,
Josh

Morning Discipleship Highlights (Weeks 1-6)

Hey everyone,
  Just wanted to update you with all that's going on here in Nashville.  I'm just going to highlight some of our focuses throughout these first few weeks to catch some of you up that haven't received updates lately.  I'm going to try to write a post at the end of each week from here on out.  Even if it's short, I'm going to try to post something.  Also, these first few weeks are just our morning sessions that we call RPM (Reading, Prayer, Memorization).  There's other facets of Trek-X that I'll be letting you know about too, but as for now, this is just a catch-up post to summarize the main themes throughout this first month and a half of our morning sessions.

Week 1
  After RPM was explained to us, we read about martyrs in the Faith from the book "Jesus Freaks" by D.C. Talk.  It's always humbling to see the extremes of our faith.  In our church language, we separate the the word witness and martyr, but they actually are the same thing. We use witness more as a verb meaning to share the gospel, but it actually means "martyr" or a witness unto death.  It doesn't mean all witnesses will die (for their faith), but a true witness embraces death for the advancement of the Truth.  Anyway, it's very easy to forget, ignore, and/or turn our minds away from the fact that right now someone in the world is probably dying for their faith in Christ.  We also began reading and studying Acts in depth.  If we are going to plant churches, then this made sense to study Acts.

Week 2
  We hit Acts 2:42 in this week and we spent a few days on it too.  The verse lays out exactly what the early church devoted itself to (which is probably what we need to do too... maybe???).  There are four things they devoted themselves to: 1. Apostle's Teachings 2. Fellowship 3. Breaking of Bread 4. Prayer.  SO.. let's break this down...
1) Apostle's Teachings= Scripture... These were not just words.  This was a whole new way of thinking.  It's the deprogramming of the Old Covenant life style where God existed inside a building or object to this New Covenant in which He indwells believers.  Like, this was a major switch where God was explaining this New Covenant to His people through the Apostle's Teachings.  Remember: They didn't have the New Testament scriptures.  This represents the whole Bible for us. (Matt 4:4)
2) Fellowship= Sharing what Christ has done and is doing in your life with other believers (and non-believers)... Usually, we think of fellowship as eating together and shootin' the breeze or watching a ball game together.  That's not the fellowship talked about here.  This is simply sharing what God was doing and how He was moving in their lives so that they could know Him more.  I imagine there was plenty of vulnerability here as well. (Phil 3:10)
3) Breaking of Bread=Community.... I'm not sure if we get Communion from community or if we get community from Communion, but this represents the bond and unity that is supposed to be within the Body of Christ.  It's the kinda community that says, whatever it is you're going through, come Hell or high water, I got your back.  Very close knit.  (Eph 4)
4) Prayer= well... This is just prayer.  Talking to God and bringing everything before Him. (Phil 4:6)

The last thing I want to point out is the definition of Devote: To give or apply (one's time, attention, or self) entirely to a particular activity, pursuit, cause, or person.


It is one thing to participate and do these things.  It's another to be devoted.


Week 3
  So.. week 2 was really good as you can see.  In week 3, we met with Benny Proffitt from First Priority, which is a campus club on high school that is sort of like FCA in some ways.  He talked to us about visions that God gives us (not like the vision you literally see), and how God's timing is not our timing.  He shared a story of how 20 years after he had started First Priority, he asked God why it was taking so long, and he said that he could almost hear God laugh and tell him, "What's twenty years to me?"  God is far outside of our minds and outside of our restraints (such as time).  It's important to keep this in your mind.  God's ways are far beyond and above ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9)  His time table differs from our culture which promotes now now now.  Heck, in America, we get upset if it takes longer than 10 seconds for a text message to send. 
  The other thing I took from Benny is that Jesus never once spoke about the gospel of salvation, but He spoke in terms of the gospel of the Kingdom.  I'm not going to go into explanation on this because God is still revealing a lot to me about it, but I do encourage you to pray and ask God what's the significance here and what's the difference?


Week 4
  This week brought about a whole different concept that is summed up in John 15:5, which says "I am the vine, you are the branches, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" in the English Standard Version.  I think it had gotten to the point this week that we were learning so much and taking in a lot, but we had forgotten the simple fact that we need God!  It sounds silly I know, but it was refreshing to know that God is not asking us for results.  He simply just wants us to abide in Him.  When we TRULY abide and experience Him (not just knowledge about Him, but Jesus Himself), the results take care of themselves and we cannot help but speak the Truth of God.  This is a hard concept for many hard workers to grip their mind around, but God does not need us nor does He need us to accomplish His work.  He is sovereign and can get it done without us, but in His Grace, we have been chosen and included to experience Him and be a part in the eternal story of God and His Kingdom (John 15:16).  So.. abide in Him, and see what He does.  There will be an unnatural boldness that He puts in you that you cannot contain.  (Acts 4:20)


Week 5
  This week we covered martyrs in the faith and looked into how these people could be burned alive, watch their loved ones killed, and go through other things that are real life stories that I don't even want to think about AND do it in PURE JOY! How do they do it? The answer is because they were already dead.  The Only way someone can experience these things in pure joy is to be holding on to nothing of this world or life.  All these witnesses had this one thing in common. They had nothing to lose, but everything to gain.  It's easy to read this and say ''Yea, that makes sense", but really... That's crazy... These people had considered everything apart from Christ as filthy rags. (which I found out what the literal filthy rags of the scripture means.. it's gross)  This makes me think of Luke 14:26 and Matt 10:37.  Check the verses out and think on what it really means to have nothing to lose! Is your wife, husband, child, mom, dad, job or your life nothing to you in comparison to Christ?  What does God have to chisel away from you to present you with this love for God that Paul has? ck out (Phil 3:8) READ THIS ONE


Week 6
  As we continue in Acts, we see that persecution has now set in on the Church of the living God.  We covered Stephen's death, and looked closely into it, but I'm gonna skip the details here.  Just know that Stephen shares the good news of Christ and they don't like it becomes it accuses them so they stone him.  It's just fine though because Stephen had nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Look at Acts 7:60 and see that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.  There is no other way that he makes the statement about forgiving the ones who were stoning him apart from God.  ANYWAY.... the last point we were shown is that in the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20 and in Acts 1:8, God promises that the people would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.  Well.. As of Acts 7, they haven't left Jerusalem so.. what happens?... In Acts 8, Saul starts ravaging the church and the people got the heck out of town!  Verse 4 says that those who were scattered went about preaching the word.  SO... what does it all mean???
  It means that God is sovereign.  It means that just because we may disobey and not do what God is trying to let us take part in, that does not mean God's purposes will be hindered.  He will accomplish His purposes with or without us.  He allowed the persecution and scattered His people.  Our God is in Control and Sovereign.  Thanks be to God.


Thanks for reading.  Hoping the rest of the blogs won't be as long, but this was an attempt to let you in on a small part of our discipleship.  Hope you enjoyed. Sorry for any typos. Not really feeling like proofreading this.
Much Love,
Josh

Nashville

First Priority Back to School Rally 

Nashville Sounds baseball game 

Just a few of the things we have done in Nashville...
 

English Class with Burmese Refugees

We have also gone to a Celebration of Cultures Festival, visited the Parthenon at Centennial Park, See You at the Pole at various schools, and a lot of other things to involve ourselves in the community. 

Thanks for all of your prayers. I love you all 

Are you Dying to Live??

To explain everything that God has taught me since the beginning of Trek-X would take hours upon hours. My eyes have been opened, my faith has been stretched, my theology has been turned upside down. God is doing INCREDIBLE things! This morning in our Spiritual Discipline time as we read through Acts 9 we talked about how the Lord gives us affirmations. He affirms that what we are doing either is or is not of His will. The affirmations of Trek-X for me have been the times in the past 8 weeks when I have found myself on my face in tears or just staring at the Word. WOW moments. I'm learning what it means to ABIDE in Him (John 15:4-5). I can do nothing good on my own. The things God asks us to do are impossible. Without Him. But when I am abiding in Him there is nothing He cannot do. Matthew 4:19 has brought the question "if I'm not fishing, am I even following?" How much do I have to hate someone not to tell them about eternal Life in Jesus? I have learned that there are two voices that speak to us: the voice of God and the voice of Satan. I must constantly pray for discernment to know the voice of God when I hear it. Satan only speaks fear and condemnation- God speaks love and peace and encouragement.
Lastly I want to share with you how God has opened my eyes to the Kingdom dream. Am I working towards American success and storing treasures up here on earth to eventually DIE and leave behind? Or am I giving away the gifts the Lord has entrusted to me? Am I sharing JESUS with people? Am I being a disciple, a true Christ follower? Am I living to die or DYING TO LIVE??