Have you ever had one of those days were you are just not into worship? The song leader is encouraging the church to worship, but your not having none of it. Your favorite song is playing that always brings a tear to your eye. The musicians are doing the song justice, but again “your just not into worship.” Have you been there? Be honest, we all have been there.

I consider myself a worshipper (so I thought). I lead song service in our church and I have been doing it for many years. I’ve read numerous books on worship and listen to worship music just about any chance I got. I research different worship leaders and different bands, so again I consider myself a worshipper.

But last week, God gave me a reality check. Every tuesday I get the day off in church and another brother leads worship, it has been great because I get to just worship God instead of having to worry about song selection and leading the people. Well this particular day I was real tired and just had some things on my mind so I did not feel like worshipping. So I went to the alter even though everything in me was telling me not to. I went on my knees and just started to pray. God touched me and showed me my errors and I had to repent. So what am I trying to say here?

Worship really isn’t about us and how it makes us feel, but its about our God and adoring him. When worship is done right, God is so pleased he blesses us by giving us joy, relief, gratitude, tears..etc.

Worship is telling God that he worthy no matter how were feeling. We should not worship because were looking for results on how it will make us feel when were done. When we worship we just do it because we love him and we were created to do it. Our motivation is not for God to do something for us. Its easy to worship when we are at a worship concert, but what about a midweek service when life is happening all around you? So in my time at the alter God was showing me that maybe Im not that big of a worshipper. What will God tell you if you ask him???

Over the next three weeks, I’d like to talk about what the bible say’s about giving and tithing. This is an issue that many young adults today struggle to understand and apply in their lives. For some reason our generation has a large interest in seeking God, and being touched by God and reaching the lost for Jesus, but the minute it comes to the topic of giving in the church, the ears turn off. The heart shuts down. The eyes look away. Why has this been so difficult for us to understand?

A main reason why offering and tithing has not been appealing to our generation is because the world we live is one of consumption. This society will encourage us to do well for ourselves, taking care of “Numero Ono”. Look out for yourself. You work hard?  You earned a degree? You moved outta the varrio? Good for you. But God has bigger plans for your successes. Wait let me rephrase that, “God has a better plan for the blessings he has given you.” As much as we like to take credit for our accomplishments, it really is God who has been gracious to us to experience the blessings in the first place.

So what do you do with what God has given you? Easy, you give back to God and to His Kingdom.

In today’s post I want to tackle the issue of tithing in the church:

“To tithe or not to tithe” That is the question.

For many Christians today, when it comes to the issues of giving your 10 percent back to the church, many arguments come up. “Well, the law of tithing was part of the Old Testament” or “That law has been erased because Jesus came and covered the law with grace” or how about, “The church is just trying to take my money”. Can you relate to these comments?

Malachi 3:10 addresses the main intent of tithing in the Old Testament, v10 “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

I’m here to tell you something you may find shocking. When it comes to giving in the church, “Tithing is not the maximum God requires from us, it is the minimum standard. Why? Simply because when Jesus came, he said in Matt 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Simply put, when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, he gave the greatest and largest offering that could ever be given to God. Jesus gave his life. We can never match that offering. Jesus gave to pay for the ever mounting debt we had against us. So, because of this greatest offering that Jesus gave, for us the largest offering is not the tithe.

The tithe is the starting point. The 10 percent of your income is not the issue here. The issue here is the life God called us to live once we choose to live for him. That is “Living the Generous Life”. I am saying here today that we as Christians are called to give way above our tithes to the church. Simply because Jesus gave way beyond us could ever pay him. We are called to be generous givers.

When I first started working at the age of 18, I struggled with paying my tithes. I always said, “I’ll wait to start tithing until I make more money”. When I started getting better paying jobs I struggled even more with tithing. Finally God convicted me and reminded me that everything I have is because Jesus gave his life for me.

The same goes for you. If you are having a hard time with giving you will always find yourself struggling in your relationship with Jesus.

Giving and tithing to your church is giving back to the Kingdom so that your church can be well equipped to serve the church body, reach the lost, & support your pastors. Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

God’s promise to those that are faithful in giving to The Kingdom, is that in return He will meet all of our needs and greatly bless us more that we can ever imagine. Only if we live the life of a Generous Giver.

Next Wednesday, I will talk about “Giving Generously during the good times & the bad.”

I know this is not a popular subject but it must be taught and it must be learned if this generation is going to truly continue the legacy that has been laid before us by our previous generation of Pastor’s and Leader’s who have sacrificed it all for us to have what we have today.

Please, I encourage you to ask me questions about giving and tithing. I hope to share with you what I have learned and that which can’t be covered in 893 characters or less.

God bless, George Zendejas, ITF

The Antarctic is the largest desert in the world. It may seem like an odd place. But a desert is not measured by heat.  A desert is measured by rainfall. Any place that gets ten inches or less in a year is a desert.  The Antarctic only gets two inches of rainfall in a year.  You may have seen those enormous blizzards on TV and say, “How is that possible?” What your actually seeing is snow and ice that’s already been there for a long time.  It’s too cold to melt.  And it’s just blowing all over the place.

The desert that I want to talk about is the desert seasons of the soul. A desert can be a very hot dry place.  But a desert can also be a very cold place.  And of course the desert can be the time when you’re just giving out a whole lot more than you’re taking in.

God spoke to a lot of people in their deserts. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Elijah.  Even though they lived in the desert, God spoke to them in the desert of their deserts. He led Jesus out into the desert.  And God spoke to David, King David, in the desert.

Psalm 63:1-8 “Oh, God you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.  On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.  My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.” 

David says earnestly I seek you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Ever found yourself in one of those places where you feel spiritually dry?  Where life just seems fruitless?  And you’re just dying for a taste of the water that God would have to offer you.

You might be in one of those deserts where the heat is turned up. Maybe the heat is turned up at work, financial, or family.  And the heat is turned up. Maybe you’re seeing all of the fruit on the vine withering away.  Everything that you worked so hard for is just withering and dying in the heat.

You might be in a desert season in your soul when your heart has turned cold and it’s become hardened.  Maybe you’re just burned out.  You could be angry with God over something that God did or maybe something that God did not do.  And your heart is turning cold.  You’re burning out.  You’re losing your passion for life.  You’re losing your passion for God.  Your prayers are just hitting the ceiling.  And it seems like he has left you, he’s not paying any attention to you.  And in times like that your prayer can be, either “God, where are you?”  Or it might just be “God, I don’t even care any more.”

If you’re in one of those kinds of deserts I have news for you in the next couple of weeks. I want us to unload and see what the Scripture says about those experiences of life.  Because if you’ve never been through one of those deserts, trust me!  You will be.  Most of our life is either spent in one of those; on our way out of one of those, or on our way back in.  That’s just the way life is.  We have to know how do we meet the Lord there.  How can we grow in the desert season when it seems like nothing is going to grow anywhere in our life?

The question many ask, “How am I ever going to get out of here?  When is this going to end?” 

 The answer is: YOU’LL GET OUT IN DUE TIME.

You don’t want to be in a hurry in a desert.  When God wants to teach you a lesson, when he wants to say something to you and he’s brought you into a desert season, you don’t want to be in a hurry. If you rush your way through, you might miss something. There’s beauty in the desert that you may not see in other places.  But you have to take the time to look at it, and to take in the beauty of what is happening in that situation.  There is life in the desert but sometimes you just have to look for it.  Sometimes it’s hard to see.  So you don’t want to be in a hurry.

In the next couple of weeks we will look closer at “What are we suppose to do in our desert season?” and “How do we prepare to meet God in the desert?”

Thanks for reading and Have a Bless Day!

Ruben Sandoval – Pastor of NHA

We could use your help… I’d love to hear from YOU! That’s right, you reading this blog right now. I don’t care if you’re planning on coming to Ignite Conference or not, we want to know what you would like to hear about at this years conference? What matters to you? I can’t promise we’ll use your suggestions but they will provide a launching point for our planning committee so respond using the comments of this blog and let’s hear it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this series. It’s my hearts desire to share Jesus with the world. Within that is the also the weighty responsibility to get the message accurate. It’s no surprise that the time we live in, so many messages have been distorted. This happens when they do not come from the proper source. When is comes to Jesus, Christianity, and The Gospel… The one and only true source is the Bible.

Some of the wisest words I’ve heard concerning the Bible were these: “Before you read any other book; make sure you’ve read the main BOOK. The Bible!”

PURPOSE FIVE: Give Life To The Fullest

John 10:10 (NLT) The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Jesus wanted you to know that with Him you could experience the fullness of life.

He wanted you to know that you can experience a rich and satisfying life.

Those are His words, not mine.

Why then, is it so hard to live within the framework of a satisfying life? Could it be that sometimes our opinion of what that looks like has been distorted by the view of our culture. When Jesus wrote this, He spoke of an inner contentment that can only come from knowing Him and being in His perfect will.

Our best is not always Gods best for us. Sometimes we can think we’re on top of the world and yet, God can seem so distant because it’s not where He called us to be. Our top can become His bottom. It’s when we align with His top and place ourselves beneath that we truly start to live.

That’s when you know you’re living life to the fullest. When you’re living for the Kingdom and purpose of Christ. When you know your life is making a difference in the lives of others.

Are you living the life Jesus promised you? Life to the fullest? What are some areas you can work on to get you there? When do you feel most alive?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Let’s talk about this.

This is part five of a five part series. You can read the previous posts by clicking on one of the links below. Thanks for reading! 

[Click HERE for Part One]

[Click HERE for Part Two]

[Click HERE for Part Three]

[Click HERE for Part Four]

To recap from Week 1 of this “Cause and Effect” series click here.

For a week 2 recap, click here.

THIRD / Week 3

Today we’ll focus on verses 9 and 10 of Proverbs chapter 3. They read as follows:

9 Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.

10 Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good  wine.

Here we learn about honoring the Lord with what we have; with the best! Understand that there is blessing in store for you when you ‘honor’ God. I think this is what separates the lifestyle of believers with unbelievers. Most ‘religious’ people will proclaim that they ‘love’ God, but is it demonstrated in a life of ‘honor’ to Him?

It’s one thing to say we “love” him, another thing to actually ‘honor’ Him.

How to honor God? The answer is we honor Him with what we have. Those things that are in our power and control – we honor him with those things.

To honor God with our wealth means we submit what we own (financially, materially, substance, possessions) to God. We honor Him with our Tithe – a tenth of all of our income. We honor Him with how we use what He has blessed us with.

Your Money – How is it used? Do you use it to bless God and others? Or is it about you and you only? Don’t mistake me on this – God enjoys when you enjoy what He has blessed you with. The Bible says it is the gift of God to enjoy the fruit of your labor.

WIth that said – we must never forget others and God when it comes to our finances – we make it available to be used to help others.

If you honor HIm with what you have there is promise for you; He will bless you with full provision for your life.

Let’s look at the equation:

The Cause:

Honor God with your wealth and the best part of everything you produce.

The Effect (or Result):

A full supply from God above for all of your needs; and then some (overflow).

If you’re thinking about keeping what you have for yourself and are tempted to not continue trusting in God with your finances, I encourage you to not turn back.

Remain faithful and steadfast in what you have been doing.

If you haven’t trusted God with your finances, start practicing this today because His Word Promises You – That it is God who will Provide.

God Bless,

Matt

Good morning ITW: Today we are blessed to have a new guest on Ignite The Web. Jack Ortega is a leader at New Harvest of Ventura and has a great devotional to share with us today. So let’s give him a warm ITW welcome!

Have you ever felt like your life was simply drifting by? Sure you’re saved and serving God however are you really sure of where He’s taking you? I know I’ve felt this way recently, and maybe you have too.  As I read about Noah the other day I began to see things with a whole new perspective. We all probably know the basic story, God isn’t happy about the wickedness of man, He tells Noah to build a “large boat,” take pairs of each animal, and then it rains for 40 days and nights flooding the earth and wiping out everything on it. After almost a year the flood waters receded allowing Noah, his family, and the animals to leave the Ark.

Noah taught us some important lessons by how he kept himself right with God while living in a world so wicked, it caused God to destroy everything and everyone in it. Here are just a few that encouraged and ministered deeply to me and I hope they can do the same for you.

Noah was obedient.

Genesis 6:22 - So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. (NLT)

Noah didn’t cut corners when it came to obeying God. He built the Ark exactly as God had commanded him. Many times we struggle with following God’s directions exactly as he instructs us and then wonder why things go wrong for us. Had Noah not done precisely what God had commanded it could have ended in disaster not only for him, but for his family as well. Instead we see that as the waters rose, the boat “floated safely on the surface.”(Genesis 7:18)

Noah was in a place where God had led him.

Genesis 6:18  - …..So enter the boat, you and your wife and your sons and their wives…..(NLT)

God led Noah to a place where He wanted him. Noah, his family, and the animals spent nearly a year in the Ark. By then they probably knew that place like the back of their hands. Where else were they gonna go? They were at the complete mercy of God as to where they would ultimately end up. Perhaps they wondered when this chapter would end and the next begin. Maybe Shem and Ham were getting on each other’s nerves while Japeth was tired of feeding and cleaning up after all those animals. Do you find yourself in that same “boat” so to speak. You have obeyed God exactly and yet today you find yourself “confined” to the same place, wondering when your life can move on. Look at it this way, even though they had no idea how long it would be before the water receded, they were in the safest place on ALL the earth. They were protected from the rain and had everything they needed.

Lastly, God did not forget Noah.

Genesis 8:1 - But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. (NLT)

Wherever you are at in your walk with God, He has not forgotten you. When you look at your life and feel like the rain has not stopped, the waters have not receded and you feel limited in what you can do, just remember that at just the right time God will send the wind that begins to dry the floodwaters around you. I wish I could tell you this is a quick process however it’s rarely the case. After all, it took roughly 120 years for Noah to build the Ark, another 40 days/nights of rain, and nearly a year for the water to dry. Yet through it all Noah stayed obedient and faithful and God never forgot him, just as He will never forget you.

God Bless,

Jack Ortega, New Harvest Ventura

Today, I’d like to look at the path that we have all taken in life at some point or another before we came to Jesus. The path of the prodigal son. In the following story, Jesus teaches us how great the love of the Father is for his children who have strayed.

Luke 15:11-24 ¹¹And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. ¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. ¹⁴And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father,I have sinned against heaven and before you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘ ²⁰And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran andembraced him and kissed him. ²¹And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. ²³And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Breakdown of the prodigal son

1. The prodigal son had it all, but wanted his share the property

2. He went out and experienced the pleasure of the world, and lost it all. He was let down by the world, he was lost to the point of losing his own dignity (eating w/pigs)

3. He came to his senses, remembered how good he had it back at home

4. Returned home with an attitude of repentance, recognized himself as a sinner

5. Father had compassion on him and accepted him back in as his son.

The way back home is through Jesus:

1. Jesus came to give us Hope

1 Tim 4:10 – For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

2. Jesus came to Save us

Luke 19:10 – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

3. Jesus came to Restore us

Psalms 23:1-4 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

2^nd Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

You know it’s sad but true, it often takes great sorrow and tragedy to cause people to look to the only One who can help them, Jesus.

God love’s is patient for us. Like the Father in the story, God waits patiently for us to come to our senses.

The important thing to remember is, never forget what God has done for us. How he forgave us and took us back when he came to him lost.

The love of Jesus covers all sin, all past, all hurts. For this reason, we too must remember, there are so many out there who are prodigal sons & daughters. Be the one who points them to Jesus. Be the one who is the evidence of the one who found The Way Back Home.

George Zendejas, ITF

To all you singles that are in the hunt for that very special someone! I thought it would be fitting to write on companionship that it’s Valentines day and all. This year I will be married to my high-school sweetheart Sabrina for ten years! Time truly does fly by when you’re having fun.  I do love my wife, and I was successful in getting a woman to say “I do!” Lol. I was thinking that there are many singles who desire to marry, but might be going about it all wrong. So I compiled a short list of some common traits that you want to find in yourself and also in the person you will choose to spend the rest of your life with. If you follow these they could save you from some unneeded heartaches and headaches when it comes to the subject of relationships.

“God must be first“ (Proverbs 3:5-6). If God is not number one everything is going to turnout backwards, and when I say everything, I mean it. This is particularly true in relationships. If you are placing a person ahead of God you are destined to make some very poor choices. When I say placing God first, I mean that you are willing to give up anyone or anything for Him! Tough pill to swallow but those that I have seen with this attitude are the happiest in the long run.

“Are you willing to wait and are they willing to wait till marriage for sex?”  We live in a culture in which waiting for sex is mocked and young people who are waiting till marriage for sex are painted as weirdos and hermits. Don’t believe the lie. The truth being said those who wait for sex, save themselves from so much drama, regret, and pain. They are also some of the coolest people too, but media won’t admit to that. They are also the smartest because they are thinking about their future.  Case in point, In a recent study conducted by a well-known university to determine which factors contribute to a “happy” marriage. One of the questions on the survey was “When did you become sexual in this relationship?”. Interestingly, the study found that the longer the couple waited to have sex, the better their marriage was. Those couples who had waited all the way until marriage to have sex exhibited the highest advantages.

According to the study findings, couples who waited till marriage to have sex had the following advantages…

• 22% higher relationship stability
• 20% higher relationship satisfaction
• 15% better sex (“higher sexual quality of the relationship”)
• 12% better communication.

“Are they saved? It is extremely sad how people think that they can change someone after they marry them.  Girls think they can change guys and guys think they can change girls, but that’s usually never the case.  That’s why the bible warns us not to be unevenly yoked (2 Cor 6:14). The picture that we see from the bible here is two oxen connected together with a large piece of wood around their necks in which they plowed a field together. Two oxen, basically the same size, same strengthen and same species. In the Old Testament (Deut 22:10) God warned the Israelites not to plow a field with an ox and donkey together, hence came the term ”unevenly yoked.”  The reason was simple, imagine an ox trying plow with a donkey, different size, different strength, and different species. Same is true for a believers and non believers trying to hook up, they may look-alike but they are completely different. You’re an ox don’t hook up with a donkey as the Message version would probably put it, the King James wouldn’t be as euphuistic. But be honest, ask others, especially your leaders, they will tell you the truth, many times love is blinded from truth, but those who love you will tell you what they see, don’t despise what they say.

Conclusion As a teen there were many times I felt like I was missing out. Driving pass the local high-schools during valentine’s day I would see the young dudes with their girlfriends, holding hands, going on dates, prom and all those things young couples do.  And me and my wife on the other hand couldn’t do any of that. I remember people laughing at us. When we went out my parents and sisters had to come! It was so embarrassing at times.

I remember one evening driving home with my father after dropping off Sabrina before we were married at her home and he said, “Son, someday I’m not going to have to chaperon, after you marry her, it’s just going to be you and her.” And as years past by what he said came to pass. Now we can go out on as many dates as I desire., by ourselves, of course! We go to the movies, to the beach, and to get pizza by ourselves! And we are so blessed! Young person I really mean it when I say don’t settle for the first person or second person that comes your way, wait for the person that God has, believe me,  it’s worth the wait, yes, it’s worth the wait.

Happy Valentine’s Day

This is part four of a five part series. Please check back next Monday for the final installment… Thanks for reading! 

[Click HERE for Part One]

[Click HERE for Part Two]

[Click HERE for Part Three]

The following are obvious throughout the gospels…

Christ cares about the sick.

Christ cares about the homeless.

Christ cares about the widows and the orphans. 

Christ cares about those who are stricken by hunger. 

Christ cares about the church.

Christ cares about you and your personal needs.

However, all things considered… If you are a Christian, you have a place in heaven and are promised eternal life. If you can endure hardships, you’re going to be all right. But for those who are lost and have not confessed faith in Jesus Christ, they are the ones that need the most help because their SOUL is lost and a SOUL is eternal. Where you spend eternity is FOREVER.

PURPOSE FOUR: To Seek and Save

Luke 19:10 (NLT) ”For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

What Jesus speaks in this verse is so critical for all of us to understand. If you know Christ, you can sympathize with the fact that once, you were lost but Jesus found you and SAVED you from death’s grip which resulted in a freedom that comes with hope, peace, and confidence in Christ. As for those who are still lost, Jesus said that His purpose for coming was to SEEK and SAVE them.

Please don’t forget WHY Jesus came. The Gospel (good news) which saves is that He died, was buried, rose from the dead and is alive today still seeking to save. Paul the apostle summed up the Gospel message in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

Belief in JESUS… That is what SAVES! That is the most important message that any human alive can hear. Because only belief in Him can save their soul. So go out and tell someone about this good news!!! You have the BEST news anyone will ever hear. JESUS!!!