The Mind and The Heart

The Mind: Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

The Mind: The mind is something very powerful that we can use for to glorify God or it can be used for our flesh where we will start thinking about things not of God.
God has been showing me just how important it is for me to keep praying and reading Gods Words. I realize that when my mind is not all there and is off wondering about all the "what if's" in my life that I lose out on blessings from God. How easy it is to start thinking about "if I just did this or that and or what should I do in the future" and we miss out on what God has for us right now.
I will admit that serving God has not been easy for me because I start to think about my own needs and wants instead of having my mind on what God has done and is doing in my life. This "renewing of the mind" is by getting into Gods Word. By getting your mind on what God says instead about what the World says. It is to be active in Gods Words. We start renewing by digging deep into His Word and not just a once a month or once a week thing but to be reading His Word daily. I have missed out on a lot of blessing from God here in Iwakuni because my mind was not on God but the world. By that I mean there are times when I start thinking about the times when I have failed instead of how God saved me when I have failed, thinking about that I'm not good enough instead of reading His Word and remembering He calls me His child, and when I start thinking about what the future may hold for me like......."what should I do next, and or who am I going to marry" instead of just falling in love with God NOW.
I pray that you all start really "renewing your mind" in Christ. May He be your first thought when you get up, be your thoughts during the day and your last thought before you fall asleep.

The Heart: Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

When I think of that heart I think of something so beautiful and so amazing. God has called us to have a heart that pure and willing to do His will. We can do two things with our heart. One is that we can give our heart away to the world by giving into our fleshly desires instead of desires guided by God. Second choice is giving our heart to God. Letting Him protect our heart from the World. Now that doesn't mean that we will never have get a broken heart. We will experience heartache because we live in a fallen world and the kind of LOVE that God has called us to is a love that has put our whole heart out there. I know that I have made bad choices in life because I would "follow my heart" and its fleshly desires instead of praying and searching Gods heart and have Him guide my heart to what He will do. I love that God says we are to trust Him will all of our heart and not lean on our own understanding. I mean think about it...how many times have you gotten your heart broken and beat up because you acted on your own understanding of something instead of really asking and seeking God on whatever you were experiencing. I can't tell you how many times when I was younger I would give my heart to a girl because I felt like "I loved her" and my heart was going crazy over the girls I liked. I acted on my feeling, my passion, my fleshly desire and gave my heart to so many girls instead of giving it to God and seeking God on how to purse a relationship with a girl. When we really give God our whole heart He does really protect it. He does really care for our heart and wants the best for our us. Our God is crazy in love with us so why is it so hard to give all of our heart to Him but yet it is so easy to give our whole heart to someone that we might be dating, seeing and or just like? We might not even know that person well but because our we "so in love" with them we just give them our whole heart not think about it.
I want to encourage you all to hold onto the words of Solomon "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." How important that is that we are to guard our heart and give all of it to God. We need to give our heart to the One who made our heart instead of someone or something that might seem so right at the time but at the end it is just an empty promises.

Video Ministry

 Some of the new things we are starting up here at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni is video pod casting. We record the sermon on Sundays then I edit them and post them on the Calvary Iwakuni website. It has been a blessing to me because of how much I love video and editing. Video and editing has been something that has been on my heart since I was 14 years old so it is so awesome by Gods grace that I get to do this still.
           
                                                                              It is a great ministry tool because this makes it possible for anyone who missed Sunday and anyone else to watch the sermon instead of just hearing it. At our church we have a lot of military families so that means we have a lot of military guys/ladies who travel every week. We pray this will be a great blessing for them and who ever else wants to watch the sermon to be encourage in the Word. Check out our website at calvaryiwakuni.com and lesson or watch the sermons that we do on Sunday's and be blessed!!                                                                                             

The importance of a personal devotion time with God

As most of you all know that I live in Iwakuni Japan serving at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni as a missionary. I over sea the children and youth ministry and have a lot of other different ministries that I do here.
I always ask God how am I here in Japan as a missionary. God being God always tells me because of His grace.
Some of you may not know my testimony and that when I was younger I was a very shy kid and teenager.
-I had reading and writing problems.
-I hated speaking and reading in front of people.
-I was afraid of everything when I was kid.
I would of rather jump out of a plane with no parachute on then speak in front of people that's saying a lot because I hate heights.
So how did a kid who was shy, who hated speaking and reading in front of people and had reading and writing problem end up in Japan as a missionary?
I wonder that everyday I am here but I am so thankful that our God is just that big and good.
The answer to that is easy..........Gods grace and the way I learned about the beauty of Gods grace is by having a personal devotion time with Him.
I grew up in Visalia, CA. I started going to Parkside Chapel when I was about 5 or so and that is still my home church today, 20 years later.
I remember being about 13,14 years old or so and hearing about missionaries going out to serve the Lord in another country and thinking to myself  "God that is so cool that they have that faith but I can never do that". That was when I knew that God started to put that on my heart to be a missionary but I was so afraid. I was even afraid to go on a plane at that age so I thought that alone would hold me back from serving God in another country.
When I was 16 years old I went to a Christian winter camp and we where in this big Sanctuary with tons of other youth praising and worshiping God. I remember thinking to myself  "how cool this is God to see all of these youth worshiping you and hearing Your Word taught but I could never teach Youth Your Word because I'm afraid of public speaking and I myself cant speak well".
When I was 13,14 years old my dream was to be a missionary and when I was 16 my dream was to be a youth Pastor. I thought those dreams where only just dreams and could never come true.
God showed me how big He is!!!
When I turned 18 I started helping my youth Pastor out with jr. High. Some of you may know who Jason Wigand. He was my youth Pastor. God blessed me a lot by putting him in my life. When I was 19 God blessed me again by putting John Hinton in my life. Some of you might know him also. He pushed me to dream big and chase that dream God has given me.
When I was 22 I went to bible college and lived in Israel my second semester of bible college.
When I was 23 I went to do my last semester in Japan.
Now I'm 25 and I am a missionary in Japan and also a youth Pastor at the church I am helping at.
How did this happen? Gods grace!!!!! It was ALL God!!!! God doesn't need us but He wants us!!!
It was during my devotion time that God spoke to me to pursue to be a youth pastor and missionary.
It was during my devotion time when God would speak to me, love me, hold me, change me and move me.
Just how important is it to have a personal devotion time with God? Very important!! It is life changing!
During your personal time with God, He will start giving you His desire of His heart and He alone will start making His desire become real in your life.
I want to encourage you all to have a personal time with God everyday. That is when you will start to hear from Him and His dreams become your dreams and then they will become dreams you will be living out for His glory.
Hold on with everything the dreams, the desires that He has put in your heart. God will make those come true beause they are His dreams, His deisres that He has placed in your heart as you are having a personal devotion life with Him!!!
During your devotion time with the Lord, He will  speak to you, love you, hold you, change you and move you.
Keep loving Jesus with all that you have and watch how big and good our God is!!!

Different Ministries

Here are the different ministries here at the church to keep praying for!

 This is our sanctuary here at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni. We have around 60 adults and around 40 kids that come here on Sundays. We have mostly military families that come out but it is on the Pastors and I's heart to keep reaching out to the Japanese so they can hear the Good News. Our time is from 10:00am-11:30am. Pastor Mike Silva is teaching through the book of Revelation right now. Please keep praying that more people come and hear Gods word and learn more about the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

 This is our fellowship room where on Sundays we come into to fellowship with each other after Sundays service.

We also have our potlucks here where we enjoy together some GOOD food and fellowship
Please keep in prayer that more people would come and fellowship and be around Christians.

We are still working on this fellowship room to get more of a cafe feel to it.

 We also have a women's bible study on Tuesdays morning were the women are going through 1 & 2 Peter.  Please keep praying for the women as they are now in 2 Peter and growing in Christ together.

On Wednesday nights Pastor Mike leads a small group in the fellowship. They are going through first Kings. Please pray that more people will come as this is a good time for discussions.

I also meet up in the fellowship with a Japanese man named Takahito on Tuesday nights. I teach him the bible and he has about two weeks ago accepted Christ. Please pray for Takahito to keep growing in the Lord.

 This is our Preschool-Kindergarten class (4-6 year old).

We have around 8-14 kids on Sunday mornings here in this class.

On Sundays during service this is were we have our 4-6 years old come and learn out their awesome God.

Please pray for the teachers as they get prep and teach these little about Jesus.

Also pray for these kids that they will learn about God and also remember Gods word.  

This is our toddler class  (2-3 year old).

We have about 8-14 toddlers that come on Sundays mornings.

Please keep in pray the toddlers that come and the teachers as they are teaching the toddlers about Jesus. 

 This is our youth room. The youth is called T.R.Y. Transformed Redeemed Youth.

We have about 5-8 youth that come on Wednesday nights.

Please keep them in prayer as we are teaching what it means to really live a life as a teenager that is Transformed and Redeemed by Christ.

Also please pray for me and the other leaders to keep loving them as Jesus loves them and to keep reaching out to more youth and tell them about a God who loves them so much.

 This is our Elementary class (1st-5th grade) class.

We have around 12-15 kids that come here on Sunday mornings.

Please pray as this kids are learning just how awesome our God is and how much He loves them on a personal level.

Please pray for the teachers they teach these amazing kids just how much and how real God's love is for them.

 This is our Nursery class (up to two years old)

We have about 6 babies that are in here.

Pray for the helpers in here as they keep showing love onto these beautiful babies.












These are the different ministries that are going on here at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni. Please keep praying for this church and the people of Japan. As it is on God's heart for EVERYONE to be saved!!

Our weakness and God's strength

I know all of us have a weakness and it is so easy to dwell on them and give and say "whats the point to keep moving on."If you have been dwelling on your weakness for some time now may you now stop dwelling on your weakness and staring praying. thinking, hoping in the strength of God.
Don't dwell on the things you cant do but on what God can do. I cant tell you how many people in my life telling me of the things I cant do because of my weakness. Satan loves to point out the things that we cant do and things that are just too hard to do. I pray if Satan is telling you all these negative things that you will rebuke Satan and say "get behind him Satan and by God's grace I will do great things for God."
For us as Christians God gave one of the best things we could ever ask for and that is the Holy Spirit.
Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in John 14 and promises that the Holy Spirit will always be with.
Remember this verse when Satan try's and reminds you of your weakness....."I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12. Such beautiful, awesome words from Jesus.
We are able to do greater things because Jesus went to the Father and He lives in the Father and the Father lives in us and He is with us. Jesus has over came the world and the world has no hold on Him. With the Spirit of Truth living in us we truly can do the imposable because it is our Father working through us!!!
God really does know how to comfort His children!!

New Start to a new Year!!

I know the beginning of every new year people make new promises but give up very quick. Have you thought of something this year on what you want to do or change in your life? Have you already gave up on that and said you will start next year. I know I have already given up on what I wanted to change by going to In-N-Out  three  time in a week when I was back in CA.
One thing I love about God is that He never gives up! He makes us promises and always comes through. There have been so many times I want to give up on God and try to do the things of my flesh. Every time I fail and I get into my flesh God is always next to me saying "I haven't given up on you" "My grace is enough". How true is that in our lives? That out God will never give up on us and He has given up on us and that He is grace is sufficient for us and His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God has me back in Iwakuni, Japan and one thing I prayed to God was that I will not let my fears and my weakness be an excuse to not do the work God that He wants me to do. We have no excuse to just live these ok, half effort, fearing, lives because Gods grace is sufficient.
May this be a challenged in our life this year that every time God says "go" in our life that we will "go" that every time He says to "love" we will  "love" every time He says "stay" we will "stay".
Last year I chased fully the desires  of my heart that God has given me and that is why now I am here in Iwakuni, Japan doing things I thought would be only just dreams in my head. CHASE the desires of your heart that the Lord has put on your heart! Make sure it is from the Lord and chase it!!! Don't let laziness and fear get in the way of something great, something that you thought would only be just a dream, something awesome that God has for you!!! GOD HAS NO LIMITS!! Keep that close to your heart!
Let this year be focused on God and His grace. We can do so much more in this life then we believe we can because God is for us.


Please keep praying for the church here in Iwakuni, Japan. Pray that many people here will be saved this year. That the eyes of the lost will be opened and they will come and know a God who has something so much more for them!!! 

Amazing

http://www.churchleaders.com/children/childrens-ministry-videos/157833-11-year-old-shares-christ-in-every-book-of-the-bible.html

this is one of the amazing thing that God can do through a child. Raising up children in God's word can shake you up!!