Cullen Allen

Taking Territory and Experiencing The Miraculous

On Tuesday morning I spoke at SOS church and gave a challenge to the Bible School students and those involved with the Mission Trip practice to Stockholm.  I spoke from from Joshua 1:1-7, which talks about Joshua stepping into the place of leadership to to lead the Israelites into the land God promised to give them.  Its says "…the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them - to the Israelites.  I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.  No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.  Be strong and every courageous."

There are a couple of the things that we can learn from this:

1) God will always ask you to do something BIGGER than yourself…something you don't think you can do…and something that's beyond your comfort zone - then He'll back you up as you do it!

This is what often releases God to work in supernatural ways.  God asked Joshua to take on something far BIGGER than himself, something he felt like he couldn't do, and something that was way beyond his comfort zone…and then God promised to "back him up."  We often want God to provide proof and evidence that something supernatural will take place, then we might decide to face a challenge that's in front of us.  However, God works the opposite way.  He asks us to take a step in advance of us seeing any tangible evidence or proof of what will take place.  It's this step that often triggers the miracle and releases God to "back us up"  with supernatural workings.  We often "wait" for God to do something, when in reality He's waiting on us to take the first step!

2) When God has territory that He wants us to take, we have to go and get it by FAITH!

Although God promised to give the Israelites the "Promised Land," they had to be willing to fight in order for it to be theirs.  Every promise requires us to be action-oriented in order for it to be released from heaven.  We have to take it.  It won't just automatically happen by itself.  It was like God was asking Joshua, "What do you want?" (or "What territory do you want to take?") God was inviting Joshua to think and ask BIG.  This honors God, because it's a demonstration of FAITH.  Everywhere our feet go, it's an opportunity for God to release miracles, salvations, healing and deliverances.  Why?  Because He has given us that spiritual territory. We have to live like it's ours and "take it" for the purposes of God.   It won't just happen without our intervention of action-oriented FAITH.  

Key Ingredients For Planting a Church

No, I haven't planted a church, but I thought this video was quite entertaining!

3 Powerful, 3-word Phrases

I love preparing teams for the mission field.  One of the challenges I give each team that I work with is something I call, "3 Powerful, 3-word Phrases."  I always tell people that these phrases aren't something to "use" on others, but rather something to use to challenge yourself.  These phrases may seem a little extreme, but I've often found that conditions on the mission field call for extreme preparation in order for teams to perform at an effective level.  After all, our goal is to reach people who don't know Jesus!  That goal deserves the best preparation possible.

While these 3-word phrases are great to be used on the mission field, they aren't confined to a mission context.  They can also be used to help challenge ourselves to a higher level in everyday life.  

#1 - "Deal With It" - On the mission field (and in life), things will not always go the way we want them to go.  Schedules will change and unexpected things will happen.  That's something you can guarantee.  At those moments when expectations aren't met, we must "deal with it."  It's important to maintain the best attitude possible and turn the situation into something positive.  Otherwise it destroys team morale and prevents us from accomplishing our goals to impact people's lives.  This principle is a matter of overcoming the situations that we face instead of being overcome by them.  

#2 - "Suck It Up" - I've faced some pretty crazy accommodations on the mission field such as: sleeping on the ground, a hole in the dirt for a toilet, nowhere to take a shower or sleep for 3 days straight, plus a whole lot more.  It's easy to let our emotions take over when we face these unique situations.  So if we don't quickly gain control of ourselves, our effectiveness will be greatly reduced.  That's when we need to "Suck it up" and remember that we're there for others and not for ourselves.   This principle is a matter of putting our preferences aside to pursue a higher goal.  

#3 - "I'm A Warrior" - A warrior remains tough in all situations and does whatever that need to do to win the battle their facing.  What a great way to approach the mission field and life as well!  Sometimes, however, we don't "feel" like a warrior.  That's why it's so important to confess that (with the help of Jesus Christ), "I'm a Warrior!"   I'm convinced that each of us can do more than what we think we can.  This principle is a matter of reminding ourselves that, through the power of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that I can't do!

How to Introduce a Guest Speaker. . .

Our media guy at APC, Brian Lippert, made this video that we used to introduce Greg Hubbard in our weekend services.  It's hilarious and an instant classic!  Great job Brian.

Where Is Your Focus?

Have you ever looked through someone else's glasses?  Chances are, everything was probably blurry.  Why?  The glasses were the wrong prescription for your eyes.  They caused everything you looked at to be out of focus.  Without the proper focus, your life is significantly impacted.  Hebrews 12:2 says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus. . . ."  Another way to say this is "Let your eyes be FOCUSED on Jesus."

Having the proper FOCUS us actually one of the keys to living in spiritual victory.  Here's fact: Whatever you focus on is what you will follow.  If focus on failure, compromise and temptation, then that's the path that you will follow. . .you will fail, compromise and give in to temptation.  That's not the kind of live anyone wants to live.  When you FOCUS on things you don't want to do (even if you're trying to avoid them), you'll find find yourself defeated, depressed and falling for the very things you're trying to stay away from.  Why?  Because you were FOCUSED on the wrong things.

The Bible never tells us to FOCUS on what we should NOT do.  That would just give more opportunity for the enemy to work in our lives.  Instead, we should FOCUS on Jesus Christ and the victory He provided for us.  Remember, whatever you FOCUS on is what you will follow.  If you really want to follow Jesus, then make Him the primary FOCUS of your life. 

Do You Have "Junk" That Your Hiding?

Last night in our Sr High 2Twenty Youth Service we did something unique.  Instead of having a typical sermon, we watched one of Rob Bell's "mini-movies" from the Nooma series called LUMP, which talks about the "junk" we often hide in our lives.  Then we broke off into small groups for a time of discussion and Bible study relevant to the topic of the video.  It actually went really well.  I even decided to post the discussion guide that we created for our small groups.  Some of the questions were taken from the booklet that came with the purchase of the Nooma series, while others were ones we came up with ourselves.  If you choose to watch the video (which I recommend), just know that it lasts about 10 minutes.

Lump (Rob Bell - Nooma)

HERE'S OUR DISCUSSION GUIDE WE CREATED:

Question #1 – Have you ever gotten busted for something you’ve done?  If so, what was it?

 

Question #2 – What are some ways that you avoid dealing with the “junk” in your life?

 

Question #3 – You don’t have to answer the first part of this question out loud, but make sure you think about it:

• Do you have anything in your life that you’re hiding or something that you’re ashamed of?  If so, are you ready to deal with it?
• Here’s the portion of the question that you can answer out loud: Instead of hiding something that you’re ashamed of, or that you regret, what’s the best thing to do about?  What are the results of continuing to hide it?

 

*Let’s see what the Bible has to say about these things:

 

James 5:16 – “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

• This verse tells us there is freedom and power when we confess the things we’re trying to hide.  When we confess to God, He forgives us.  When we confess to another person who is spiritually strong, they can help by to keep us accountable so that we don’t keep getting tripped up by the same thing over and over again.

Romans 8:38-39 - And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    

Question #4 – Is it difficult for you to believe that God loves you no matter what you have done in your life?  Why or why not? 

 

Question #5 – How can that truth (the fact that God loves you no matter what) help to change the way that you live? 

 

Remember this quote from the video: “May you stop hiding under the covers.  May you let God pull the covers back.  May you embrace him.  May your whole life become a response to the truth that you’ve always been loved, you are loved, and you always will be loved.”

Bigger Than A Lifetime

I'm not sure what triggered my thoughts in this direction, but today I found myself reflecting on my first day on staff as a youth pastor at Allison Park Church (almost 14 years ago).  After moving everything into my office, I remember sitting at my desk and wondering what to do next.  The thought went through my mind, "So what is a pastor suppose to do?  Is there actually enough stuff to fill the time in my day?" 

Let's just say I'm not asking those questions now!  In fact, I'm usually trying to figure out how to get everything done that needs to be accomplished.  This reminds of something David Cartledge once said, "Have a dream so big that it can't be accomplished in your lifetime."  Wow, that's a challenging statement and great motivation as well.  So rather than measuring our work load in terms of hours (for accomplishment), let's measure it in terms of a lifetime!

Procrastination - Part #2

Another reason we often procrastinate is because we become "paralyzed" by the size of the project, task or goal.  We are hesitant to work on something that seems so large or intimidating.  However, once you take the initial step of starting the project, it's amazing how much the intimidation can decrease.  You will also find that quite a bit can be accomplished simply by working on it a little at a time.  All of a sudden, it seems less daunting and much more managable. 

You've probably heard the question, "How do you eat an elephant?"  The obvious answer is "One bite at a time."  This is also a good example of how you overcome the habit of procrastination.  Work on things IN ADVANCE, ONE BITE AT A TIME.  Break the project down into smaller steps to be accomplished.  Look at the smaller portions of the project instead of the whole project at a time.   

You don't have to procrastinate.  There IS a better way! 

Procrastination - Part #1

One of the things I briefly talked about in our Ministry School today was the topic of procrastination.  There is a tendency that we all have to put off some of the most important (and challenging things) in life.  We tell ourselves that we can "do it tomorrow."  But as we all know, "tomorrow" seldom, if ever, comes.

I often hear people say (when speaking about themselves), that they "work best under pressure."  Therefore they wait until the last possible minute to start on the project, task or goal that needs to be done. While some people function well in pressurized environments, in most cases, the statement about "working best under pressure" is simply an excuse to procrastinate.  It gives us the liberty to continually delay what needs to be done until the last moment.  Then we end up with a product that is inferior to what we are truly capable of producing.  Working in advance clearly gives more time for more creative ideas, planning , preparation and revision.  Therefore the outcome is always better when we allow for more time.  So what's the answer?  Set an EARLY deadline for the project (before it really needs to be completed) and put pressure on yourself to get it accomplished by then.  That combines the elements of DISCIPLINE (advance planning) & PRESSURE (for those who still feel they work best at the "last minute").

We'll look at Part #2 of Procrastination tomorrow...

Making Your Group "Guest Friendly"

I recently did a training with our adult leadership team in the youth ministry.  The topic of the training was Making Your Group Guest Friendly.  This is something we are focusing on as we prepare for the fall season and a brand new start to school.  If we're going to reach students who don't know Christ, we must create an atmosphere that is "guest friendly."  Without that proper atmosphere, guests who attend our small groups and services probably won't be back again. 

When I use the term "guest friendly," I'm not talking about watering down God's Word or eliminating the moving of the Holy Spirit.  We teach our students to pursue God in a passionate and expressive way.  We also challenge our students to walk in the miracle working power of Jesus Christ.  We want to raise up a generation that mirrors the lifestyle of the early church in the book of Acts. 

So, when I'm talking about being "guest friendly," I'm primarily referring to the fact that in order to reach people who don't know Jesus, we must meet them where they are.  We need to explain "why" we do what we do and "why" we believe the things that we believe.  We need to show genuine love, care and concern.  We need to be followers of Jesus Christ and not followers of religious rules or traditions.  When we truly introduce people to the Jesus found in the Bible, it's one of the most powerful and "guest friendly" things that we can do!  Click Here to download a copy of the training.