...And All who agree said...

I was reading Matthew 18:19 when a powerful thought occurred to me. In the verse Jesus tells the disciples, "I also tell you this: If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you." I thought, gee, I know quite a few Christians and we actually do agree on a thing of two. If I could only figure out how this thing works...!

DUH!!!! Bill Hybels, senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, ends EVERY prayer with the following; "... and all of God's people agreed, Amen!" Sometimes, I guess that I am just a little bit slow... ;-)

I'm off to a room that will be filled with 30 or more believers, gathered in His name. Let's see what we agree upon.

God & Humans, the response (then & now)

I am in a One Year Bible reading plan. Last night, the two primary passages I was reading was Exodus 2:11 - 3:22 and Matthew 17:10-27. The Old Testament piece describes Moses' burning bush experience and the New Testament segment sees Jesus instructing Peter to pay the temple tax with a coin from the fishes mouth.

In the first, God speak to Moses in a burning bush and says to him...what? "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on Holy ground." Now I have read and heard some very interesting commentary on that single verse, but that is not really where I am going here.
The point is that God spoke. Scripture doesn't confirm the action of Moses, other than to say that "...he hid his face in his hands...", but we can assume that he followed God's instruction and removed his sandals.

In Matthew I want to focus on a verse that is actually just ahead of the temple tax story. In 17:17 Jesus says, "You stubborn, faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you?

Now lets establish a little timeline. The burning bush story occurred about 1420 BC. Here we are in 2009 AD. Matthew 17:17 is just about in the middle, give or take a few hundred years...
Scene one, God spoke, human listened. Scene two, Jesus spoke, humans refused to believe. Scene three, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are speaking to your heart every day, what are you doing? Are you removing your sandals daily? Or are you left wondering, "Why couldn't we cast out the demon?"

HTG19

Today was a GOOD day. It began with about 30 HTG members gathered in the Presidential Suite of the Omni Mandalay hotel in Dallas. These folks gathered early, before the meetings began for a devotional time led by Jeff Wood. Jeff spoke to a committed group of business leaders about the importance of being an Ambassador for the Lord. The message was rooted in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21. It was very appropriate for a group that was about to spend the day interacting with nearly 200 business leaders.

I met with six of those leaders, founding members of HTG 19. Collectively, we will invest in one another for quite possibly years to come. As the facilitator of the group, I was privileged to introduce them to the "HTG Way."

Arlin Sorensen stopped by to present the "Big Picture" and to elaborate on the Mission, Vision and Values of Heartland Tech Groups. After that we jumped right in! The guys were well prepared and we set about addressing the topics on the agenda and setting the foundation for many meetings to come.

Mike Murphy from the Microsoft Local Partner Engagement team hosted a Lunch & Learn. I think that it is safe to say that his presentation was well received and relevant to all.

A long day was capped off with a pleasant dinner at a restaurant walking distance from the hotel. All in all, I think these guys "get it." I'm looking forward to watching as they work together to grow their businesses and improve the balance in their lives.

Today was a GOOD day.

Sunday Morning Prayer Request

This morning I come before you and the Lord with a couple of prayer requests. I know the power of prayer and I ask you to join me in praying for the following:

I pray for healing, miraculous healing for two young men, Nolan and Scott. Nolan was the victim of a terrible auto accident on January 9th. He sustained injuries has include numerous broken bones but more importantly there was trauma to the brain. He is in stable condition but our prayer is for complete and TOTAL healing for this 25 year old man, with his whole life ahead of him.

Scott recently visited the doctor for some fairly common, but persistent symptoms. I don't have many of the details but apparent the diagnosis revealed that he may have a rare form of cancer with limited treatment options. He is still undergoing some additional tests. I would pray the same thing for Scott, complete and TOTAL healing. As he submits to the tests and treatment, I would pray that he and his family be granted a sense of Peace, knowing that God is in control.

I am leaving for a full week of "business" in Dallas. I am praying for safe passage and that throughout the week, the business that gets done is God's business! HTG is a collection of business owners and key business leaders formed into 20 groups of 12 member companies each. There will about 220 companies represented with over 325 people in attendance during the course of the week. I lead HTG19 and participate in HTG13. Please pray that the Power and Presence of God is felt by all... all week long.

I also lead a faithful group of Christian in my neighborhood, called a Table group. We meet monthly for dinner and fellowship. They are meeting later today. As I will be in Dallas, I will be unable to join them. I KNOW that God has a standing appointment to be present when that group gathers, but I pray for them none-the-less.

God is GOOD!