A Slave to the Whimsical

So I was SOAPing this morning and couldn't help but share this with all of you.  I am loving studying the Bible for myself in the Message Translation of the Bible.  It's coming alive.  If you have never been able to read the Bible and apply it to your life, or if are in ministry and struggle to not "read for others" then you have to try SOAPing.  Go to www.NextLevelChurch.com/SOAP and download the reading guide and listen to the message I did on it.  It has the power to change your life, I'm tellin' you.

So here's my SOAP for today:

S-Scripture: I Corinthians 6:12 (The Message)  "Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate.  If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims."

O-Observation: I love that Paul is pulling down legalism right here and creating a standard that is far lower.  He brings righteousness down to the whim level.

A-Application: It's so easy to get our eyes on what's "Legal" or "Moral" or "Unethical" but he brings it down to a motives level that is so personal.  what "whims" have we become a slave to? They can be simple things like impatience in traffic or needing a cup of coffee in the afternoon.  Think of that, anything as small as a whim, can make a slave of us! Wow! I have never seen that before.

No longer is it just "the big stuff" that we must guard against that can enslave us, it's the "whimsical" as well.

P-Prayer: "God, help me to become aware of the whimsical things in my life that I am a slave to. Open my eyes to areas of entitlement or where I must have my own way! Show me those things and help me to surrender them whims to You. May I take my self-discipline to that level! Amen."

Just a glimpse into what God is doing in my heart,

Have a great Monday everybody,

Matt

My Heart is Moved in so Many Ways

I am just getting back into my world this morning, which means catching up on e-mails, and all things in the Next Level Church world.

Over the past 5 days of traveling my heart has been encouraged, stretched, renewed, emptied and filled.

In Kansas City, we were able to pour into some amazing Church planters who are doing church Up-the-Middle...

In Miami, we were challenged personally in a HUGE way, & then able to pour into some unsuspecting leaders from across the country.  God is truly giving us opportunity to influence people in some amazing ways!

Finally, my heart is moved this morning because of the increasing number of prayer requests that are being turned in each week at NLC.  There are alot of hurting people out there right now, & even in our church.

I am humbled and feel such a heaviness to lift them before God today.

I love the NLC family! I love what God has created & am humbled to lead...

Matt

All in a Day's Work

Here's the Monday Sarah and I had...

• 4:21 am: Woke up in Lee's Summit, Missouri.


• 4:50 am: 1st cup of coffee


• 5:01 am: Drove to Kansas City, KS Airport


• 5:57 am: Go through Security


• 7:00 am: Flew to Orlando, FL


• 7:50 am: Lady in row next to us passes out & they have to radio a doctor on the ground... scary stuff.


• 8:15 am: Everything is fine.


• 10:20 am: Land in Orlando, FL. (Raining outside)


• 10:21 am: Find out our next flight is delayed.


• 12:00 pm: See firetrucks next to our airplane.


• 12:02 pm: Find out the firetrucks are for the plane next to ours that had to turn around and come back to the airport because they smelled smoke on board.


• 12:03 pm: sigh of relief that it wasn't our plane.


• 12:12 pm: Watch 5 policemen question a guy on the "smokey" plane.


• 12:45 pm: Board our plane (#105 & 106 to get on)


• 12:51 pm: sit in the very last row because we were #105 & #106 to get on.


• 1:03 pm: take off from Orlando for Fort Myers, FL.


• 1:33 pm: Reach the Fort Myers airport but have to circle for 10 minutes because "we have too much fuel on board to land." (glad we're saving gas now!!!)


• 1:45 pm: Touch down in Fort Myers, FL.


• 2:03 pm: Deplane in the further gate from baggage claim.


• 2:08 pm: Get our luggage.


• 2:15 pm: Meet Mike Ash who picked us up because he rocks.


• 2:35 pm: Arrive home.


• 2:40 pm: Shower, unpack, repack & leave for Miami.


• 3:05 pm: Leave for Miami with my first Diet Mountain Dew in 4 days! (They don't have diet Mountain Dew in Kansas City or Lee's Summit, MO I guess...)


• 5:15 pm: Find the church we're headed to for our conference tonight.


• 5:16 pm: determine we need coffee or we're not going to make it through the session.


• 5:18 pm: Follow the GPS to the nearest Starbucks.


• 5:34 pm: Finally arrive at Starbucks. (it was actually inside a Barnes & Noble)


• 5:58 pm: Arrive back at the church for the pastor's conference.


• 6:03 pm: Mingle with a bunch of great pastors (2 we knew & 38 we didn't know)


• 6:20 pm: Eat Spaghetti


• 7:15 pm: Listen to Mark Batterson (one of my personal heros) speak.


• 7:30 pm: Get my face rocked off by Mark Batterson, because he's just that awesome!


• 8:30 pm: Give Mark Batterson one of my books! (Because I got the nerve up to do it!!!)


• 9:15 pm: Fill up my car with gas on Miami Beach on the way to the hotel (because we were on E. I paid $2.28 / gallon, which stunk, but then Sarah said, "It still beats $4/gallon." Nice.)


• 9:30 pm: Arrive at our hotel on Miami Beach that they are putting us up in for the conference.


• 10 pm: Take a short walk by the beach and pool and begin debriefing the day with Sarah, cause she's so awesome.


• 10:53 pm: Call the front desk to ask how to connect to the wireless so I can blog about my day


• 11:07 pm: Start blogging about my day.


• 11:22 pm: Let my wife proof this blog.


• 11:30 pm: Go to bed because we have to be up at 6:00 am so my wife can workout and we can start day 2 of the conference. (I think I'm one of the Table Leaders, whatever that means...)

Other than that, not much happened today... I guess,

Except for what God spoke to my heart while I was SOAPing on the plane at 35,000 feet, which rocked my face off too.

By the way, the word God dropped in my heart was from 2 Peter 3:9 "God isn't late."

How appropriate!

Good night,

Keller