What will you do with your new 24?

Grace and peace to you,

We so appreciate you participating together with us in our ministry. I would like share a gift with you. It is called The Gift of a New 24. About six years ago, when my Dad went to be with The Lord, God blessed me with a gift to share with all those who were carrying the heavy burden of regret, shame, guilt, lies, unforgiveness and the lack of understanding our true identity and calling for this life here on earth.

In my walk with Christ at the time, I was very strong Christian and had been going deeper and deeper in intimacy with Christ. I had been delivered from many emotional issues, character flaws and addictions and I was strong and ready to experience the loss of my Father with Christ.

I had received a call from my Mom stating that my Dad had fallen and was bleeding form his head. She had thought he just scraped his forehead. I knew right away in my Spirit that this was it. My Dad was going to die. I immediately starting praying for God to heal him. My Mom called again about 20 minutes later and it turns out that he had broken his neck and was in serious danger.

At the time, and still to this day, I lead the Tuesday Text Ministry, which is either a text message or audio message of what God had put on my heart that day through contemplative prayer. I would share with over 200 people every week. So I reached out to the group for prayer and let them know what had happened to my Father. Well to my great surprise, within a half of an hour, I received back over 40 replies of people encouraging me, praying for me, offering to help out with watching our children and offering to bring meals to our home to help us through this process. God had provided a large community of believers to walk with us through this trial. A beautiful and story in and of itself.

I will tell the more detailed story of the events that took place over the next three days in another blog.

Long story short, my Dad went to be with The Lord. I cried when my Mom called that morning and then I headed to the hospital to be with my Mom. The weirdest thing occurred as we were sitting in the room with my Dad lying there on the bed, uncovered. I felt nothing for his body. I did not weep and wail. I felt as if could set a cup of coffee on his chest. I knew my Dad was in heaven and his body was empty. Never the less, I have been at funerals before where I was weeping and wailing over the body. You see, I have lost four brothers, My Father, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I am now survived only with my Mom and my sister. I also of course now have my amazing wife and children, but as far as my family line tied to my Mother and Father, I am the last man standing.

So when I left that day, I asked the Lord about this weird peace I had and He told me that I had no regrets about the time I had spent with my Father and that is why I felt great peace and joy knowing he was in heaven.

A few days later, I was watching a basketball game on TV, the LA Lakers. They had the ball and attempted a shot and they missed. They then grabbed the rebound and the game announcers said excitedly "They get a New 24". You see, there is what is called a 24 second clock in basketball in which you must take a shot with 24 seconds or you lose the ball. Now if you grab the rebound, ( the missed shot) you would get another 24 seconds to adjust your approach and strategy and take another shot. Well in that moment, I heard The Lord say " this is what you get Jeff, everyday...You get a New 24...This is a gift for people who carry regret, guilt, shame, fear, unforgiveness and unworthiness.

You see, God gave me a solution for people who do not feel the peace I felt when my Dad passed away. Not only people struggling with the loss of a loved, but also struggling with the choices we make every day that negatively affect our short life here on earth. This is not only for others, but for me as I had made many bad decisions in my life and I caused a lot of damage. I was carrying a lot of guilt and shame for the things I had done, which were holding me back from all that God had for me to do in this life. This gift has not only changed my life and continues to transform my life as I live it each every day, but thousands of people across the country.

So now I am honored to bless you with a great gift to unpack. The greatest gift to us all is Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the Cross. This Gift of a New 24 is believing in that truth, in our identity in Christ and the power of His grace, love and mercy for our lives,

“What will you do with your New 24?”

· 24 SECOND CLOCK ( Basketball)

MY TESTIMONY –

· This concept has facilitated a Complete transformation in my life as I was struggling with the ability to move forward after all of the harm I done. ( Tamara’s unforgiveness, guilt shame lies that kept me from turning towards God and The Cross)

· God gave me a gift, he reminded me of the great heroes of faith in The Bible who were used to do great and mighty things…murderers, tax collectors, prostitutes, yet as they turned toward Christ they were forgiven, cleansed and used to advance the Kingdom all through The Powerful Love of Jesus Christ.

So I believe The New 24 it is a gift from God and it is the Gateway to continual Transformation that allows us to live an abundant life in Christ.

You see, we are never saved enough, good enough, spiritual enough, etc…This is not a part time job or lifestyle, but it is to be who we are ALL THE TIME…

“If you want just a touch of religion in your life, then Christianity is not for you” LP

“It is the entry of Gods grace that has changed the trajectory of my life” LP

We are all a work in process…Forever…continually being molded and shaped by the love of God in our lives

· To not wholeheartedly believe these things, to me, is to say As if his death on the Cross was not enough for us and we still seem to miss the fact that His death gave us new life, a life in which each new day starts out in The Garden, perfect without sin, and we are given choices throughout each day to enter into relationship and follow Jesus or choose to follow our own selfish desires. Choose love or fear, love or selfishness, love or pride, love or judgment, love or unforgiveness, The new 24 is the number one weapon to wipe out the enemies arsenal… His grenades of guilt, swords of shame, cannons on condemnation, bombs of BS, etc… These no longer work on us when we live in the transforming reality of a New 24… AMEN…

SHIFTING GEARS…

Our ministry model as believers can be based on two very real concepts which are represented by how we live our lives…

The first is “ Rock Solid” and the notion that we have been fire tested, that we are grounded in Gods word and most importantly we Stand Firm on The Rock Solid Foundation of Gods Love and Mercy for us. That’s who He is… A Never changing God of Love and Mercy…AMEN

The Second is like it and it’s called Living In A New 24… Which means to wholeheartedly believe in “Who God Is and Who we are Christ”, in which we proudly proclaim the facts that He is a God of Love and Mercy and that we are “Sons and Daughters of The King”…These two true identities are always under attack by the enemy as He continually tries to corrupt our vision and throw us off course.

1. And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV)

2. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:26, 27 NIV)

3. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6 NIV)

Remember the pattern of Israel of continually turning their back on God yet He says to them…

Ezekiel 36:25-27

New International Version (NIV)

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

A New 24 is lived out through a two part process

Vision- “The Garden Reality”

· This means that through the revelation of the love of God in our lives, we are to look at life and everything it throws at us through the proper lenses. Uncorrupted Spiritual lenses. Which allows us to see ourselves how God sees us, see others the way God sees them, and to see what God is doing through unceasing prayer and unwavering faith shared openly in community. Receive His Love and blessing…Now once we understand and wholeheartedly believe this we move on to next part of the process…

A lot of us tend to get stuck here on this foo foo love stuff and think we are good with Christ...Kind of a get out of jail free card Right? WRONG!!!

Does this mean we go on sinning?

Romans 6 says - What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!

Repentance and Forgiveness- “The Cross Reality”

· The founder of The Vineyard Church , John Wimber, coined the phrase “ The Way In is The way on “ or The way In “repentance” is The way on “ repentance..

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NIV)

· Repentance is a beautiful dance with God. It is not a bad word or condemnation. It is to simply turn towards God, focusing on His great love for us and the fact that He has already paid the price for all of our sins, in lieu of focusing on the guilt , shame , isolation, anger , additions that are associated with sin and its consequences.

Waves of Forgiveness

· Ask forgiveness from God and receive His forgiveness,

· Ask forgiveness from the person, if applicable, which is also already covered under the blood of Jesus, and God will give you grace to move forward regardless of whether that person forgives you or not, Gods grace will sustain you so you can move forward in living an abundant life In Christ. It sometimes takes a person years to forgive you. Gods grace will sustain you.

· Forgive those that have sinned against you. Do not allow a bitter root to grow up inside you lest it destroy you. (Hebrews 12: 15) 14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

· We must FORGIVE OURSELVES… This is the most important steps in Living In a New 24…If you cant do this, you will not move forward…

To me, to not live in these realities is to say The Cross does not matter…

Hebrews 1:3-

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3 NIV)” and we sit on His Lap” LP

And Paul in Philippians 1 stated” I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:1-6 NIV)

Do these things every day:

1. REPENT- Turn towards God’s Glory

2. RECEIVE-His love and forgiveness, forgive those around you, forgive yourself

3. RELEASE-bitter root judgment and give away the gifts God continually reveals to you throughout this process---Go and Make Disciples---

4. REPEAT - everyday…

So now I ask, what will you do with YOUR New 24…???

God Bless Yall !!!

Jeff