“But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Holy Spirit is like the super power that God gives to us. We are given this power to tell people about Jesus. It seems like this superpower isn’t used nearly as much as it should be!

Come on, I’m pretty sure that we all dreamed about having super powers as children, and if we’re honest we probably still do. God has given us the ultimate power, no it’s not flying, or reading minds, or super speed- you have the power to do WHATEVER God calls you to do. And your calling definitely includes telling people about Jesus. Are you using your superpower?

My brothers are very in to superheros right now, and I’m becoming more and more familiar with them and I’ve dressed up as many of them. Something I’ve noticed is they don’t use their superpowers unless it is a desperate situation- it takes someone, or even an entire city, in need for them to use their powers. The way I see it, there are people in serious need all around us, so why aren’t we ALWAYS using the power God gave us to lead people to Christ??

God gave us the Holy Spirit not only for our own gain, but to BE WITNESSES! It’s time to suit-up and use the superpower He has given us!!

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” Galatians 5:16

This verse isn’t saying that when the Spirit guides, you will be completely free from conflict or doing things that might be wrong. It’s saying that we may face those things because we have a sinful nature, but it wont have victory over us.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our lives, the hatred of sin and desire for holiness will expand more and more into our lives.

Something that Pastor Chilly said a long time ago, and still continues to live by is that, we are not able to live by one of the fruits of the spirit. We can’t pick and choose which ones we are going to have.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” -Galatians 5:22-23

Before verses 22 and 23, Paul says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” -Galatians 5:19-21

Another Point that Pastor Chilly made was that if we’re lacking in one of the fruits, it’s probably because we replaced it with one of the sins listed in verses 19-21.

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” -Galatians 5:25

I love this chapter so much! It hits me like a bag of bricks. It reminds me that I will stop belonging to Christ if I give myself over to sin. We can’t be children of the light, and be sinning in the darkness.

When I look at Jesus’ life and read about when He says we are to be like Him. We are supposed to do what He did, love how He loved, heal how He healed. Yet I feel like it’s unfair for Him to ask that of me. My first thought is, “Well, I’m not God so how do you expect me to be just like you. You had an unfair advantage!” But then I remember what we’ve been memorizing in Philippians 2:6: “Though [Jesus] was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.”

This means that He suppressed His deity and didn’t ever tap into it while He lived on earth. He lived His life completely as a man, a weak human being, but the difference was that He was filled by the Holy Spirit.

Everything Jesus was able to do–resist temptation, heal the sick, live without sin, and love people with the perfect love of God–was what He did through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to us and the same Spirit that came on the day of Pentecost.

We can follow Christ’s example because we have the same power that He had to live a perfect life. He was perfectly surrendered to the will of the Father and was fully empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are offered the same Father and the same Holy Spirit.

So in short, in order to be like Jesus we must lived surrendered: to God the Father’s will, and to the Holy Spirit’s power and control of our lives. Sounds simply, but we know our selfishness gets in the way so often.

What can you do today to surrender to God’s will and the direction and power of the Holy Spirit?

Fireteam: A small unit of infantry.

In each fire team, there is generally four people or less. There is a scout, a team leader, a rifleman and an assistant rifleman. Now playing along with my illustration, there is the scout who makes the way for the team to operate successfully. Jesus made the way with teachings, death and resurrection. The team leader also plays the role of a grenadier, he is in control and gives instructions to the rest of the team. God is in control and he knows what’s best. The rifleman is second in command, and this is where we play in. We can take directions from God, but we can easily make our own decisions by ourselves. We gotta align ourselves with God and his commands. The assistant rifleman carries extra ammunition and provides cover fire. In this awful illustration, the Holy Spirit is our assistant. (After all, one of his names is the Helper, right? Ha.) He intercedes for us and helps us walk out our ‘orders’ from our Leader.

That was a really bad illustration. Anyway, Yesterday I had the privilege of being with kids in the projects AND at our Wednesday night bible study. These kids haven’t exactly grown on me, but the the Spirit has made crafted my heart to have God’s compassion and love for them. I had the insight that most of these kids were fatherless and needed a father figure in their life, and for a while I wanted to be a male figure in their life that told them that they have value to God, no matter what. And because they have value to God, they have value to me to the point that whether they were obedient or disobedient, I would love them just the same.

But the Holy Spirit had wrecked me last night. After sitting down with three kids because of their disobedience, the Holy Spirit had kept urging me that I needed to be the hammer. And so, I “laid the smack down (verbally)”. Their attitudes needed to be corrected, but the rebuke had to be spoken with respect and love rather than shouting. Honestly, I don’t enjoy being the hammer, ever. But with love comes discipline, so there has to be that fine line I have to learn and apply since I’m in these kids’ lives for a reason. I’m just glad the Spirit opened my eyes to that.

Evermore grateful,

Ben

I just got done reading Ruth yesterday, and I was blown away by her dedication to her mother-in-law.  Ruth was such a selfless woman.  Her husband died, and she had the opportunity to go back home and remarry, but she didn’t.  She went where ever her mother-in-law went, and she was faithful until the end.
Ruth was rewarded from God due to her obedience.  Her reward was in Ruth 4:17, ”The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.” ” What an honor to be the grandmother of King David himself, but better yet, it is an great honor to be in Jesus’ genealogical line too.  Yes, she was blessed with another husband, and plenty of crops.  But her true reward lasts for all eternity not until she died.
Ruth is a great example for me to remain faithful even though you might see the reward right now.  It says in Galatians 6:8b,” But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”  That all the reward I need! I want to spend eternity with the Father, and but doing this I have to put my old life to death, and put on my new life, which is in Him.  My life was never intended to be my own.  My life is Christ’, and I want to be a fragrant offering to Him daily.
It also talks in the beginning of the barley harvest in the last verse in Ruth 1, and that means the Jewish festivals were coming.  In the old testament the Israelites were suppose to give the best/first of the harvest to God.  I want to give my best to Christ too-  Nothing more nothing less.
I can’t do this on my own, because time will prove that I will fail again and again.  But through Christ, I can do all things.
~Kelton Sparky Jr.

Disciple has two meanings for me. The first is a band that I often enjoy listening to. The other meaning is the role it represents. A disciple is a student, thinker, watcher, listener, and many other things. It’s played a huge role in my life; after all, it’s the whole reason I came to Detroit.

A couple years ago I wasn’t even sure what a disciple really was. I thought it was just the name for the 12 guys who followed Jesus around. Since then I’ve learned that there were more than 12 disciples, there were just 12 main ones, and I now have a better understanding of what a disciple is. I also know that it’s my job to start making disciples.

I’m not exactly sure who are some people who would consider me for being their discipler. I often think that if they chose me over the people I’m around then they would be missing out because there are so many people around me who could do a better job of it. And yet, it would be shirking my duties to keep redirecting them to those around me. Matthew 28:19 says to make disciples, not send people to others so that they can be discipled.

There are some people in my life that I think I am having a hand in shaping their life. I pray that I won’t make any mistakes that will affect the rest of their life. My main hope is that if they learn anything from me it would be to follow after God because He’s a lot smarter and better at this than I am.

At the same time that I am discipling others, I am also being discipled. I can’t imagine there being a better person for me to be discipled by than Pastor Chilly. I truly appreciate what he does for all of us in this program. I would also say that Zach Platt is discipling me in a different way. There is no way that the Hamtramck building would be running as smoothly as it is if it wasn’t for Zach helping me learn all the different aspects (and reminding me of all that needs to be done on a regular basis). I am extremely grateful for what these two men are teaching me and I hope that some day I will be able to pass on everything that they have passed on to me.

In the last couple of months my parents got a new puppy, really though he is not a puppy but I call all dogs puppies. Each week I get to hear how the new dog, who is named Gunner, gets into mischief. About a week ago my parents told me how he is tall enough to stand on his back legs and reach to the whole counter. This past week, I got to hear about how this time, instead of the counter, he got on the table, ruined the table cloth, and ate a tub of margarine. Even though Gunner sounds like quite the trouble maker, I have been told how he is loyal and loving. I cannot wait to meet the new family pet.

About a month ago in a phone call, my mom told me what my cousin Morgan, a.k.a Porgie, said. Morgan asked my mom if she was going to go with her family to Palm Springs, and my mom told her that she was going to visit Jake and I in Detroit. Morgan then said that she wanted to come. Mom preceded to tell her that her mom and dad and brothers would not becoming and that she would be sleeping without her mom and dad. Morgan said she would be brave and that she still wanted to go. Mom then asked where would she sleep, and Morgan said with Jesse. Then my mom asked her what she would do, and since Morgan know I am in school, she said that she would sit with Jesse in class like a big girl. I love my cousin, and when I heard the story I realized how I missed her. I was her nanny all summer and I got to be really close with her and her brothers. Even though she would like to come visit me, I don’t think that she will be able to. Although I would really love it.

From that, my parents are still hoping to come visit me in about a month. They were thinking about bringing the dog with too, which would be quite that event. Each week when I call them, and I hear about the trip to come. I am excited to see them, but I feel like I cannot focus on it. It distracts me from what I am doing and I want to be the doing the best I can. Event thought I am excited to see my parents, I am also excited to see how the children I am working with in the projects and in Camp Courage and their parents changing and growing in Jesus. I want to share this with my parents when they come.

This past Monday I took my buddy Kaitlin Smith out for her birthday, and by that I mean she took me out for her birthday. Believe it or not, at age 19, I still don’t drive, so I forced her into the car and directed her on where we would adventure to, that is until I nearly got us lost. at that point in our adventure, Kaitlin took away my rights as navigator. When we reached our second destination–the mall. We were greeted with a rather entertaining message over the parking garage telecom. a voice came on and said, “Here at Somerset Mall, we encourage you to lose yourself, but not your car. Remember, you’re on level one. Don’t forget. Level one. That’s right, level one.” I kid you not, it said level one three times!

I thought it was sort of funny at first that they would encourage you to lose yourself, over your car. In my opinion, it is of slightly more importance that you keep track of yourself than that you keep track of your car. It got me thinking though. The older I get, the more I long to truly lose myself. Weird, huh? It’s true though!

Just the other day, I was reading through an old journal of mine and I came across an entry that touched on this very subject. The entry was written when I was going through a time of learning to trust God more, which is pretty much my whole life to be completely honest. Something I wrote in my journal was, “Oh how I long to be lost! Being lost by definition is to be unsure of one’s position. So, to lose myself in Christ would be to truly trust– trust that though I am unsure of my own position, I walk alongside Someone who knows completely where I have been, where I am going, and most importantly, where I currently stand.”

True trust in Christ means losing myself–forgetting who I am and adventuring through who He is. It’s so freeing to forget yourself–your agenda, your likes, your dislikes. I have found that the more I forget about myself, the more I trust in God and vice versa. When I lose myself in Christ and truly trust Him with my life, I lose my worries, my plans, and my opinions. This is not to say that I lose all sense. Actually quite the opposite. When I lose myself in Christ, I take on His concerns, direction, and convictions. His priorities, not mine! What a relief it is to be lost!

“Quickly and with a good spirit.”

That has been a staple statement in the Dyer house since the beginning of time, and no mom, that is not an old person joke about you. Now my mom would tell that to all of her kids whenever we would start to complain about obeying her when she would give us something to do. She would say that we we could obey her and still not make her happy if we did not have a good attitude. This same idea was brought up when I was reading in Exodus, let me give a brief look into what is happening.

The children of Israel have just been given a ton, and I use that word very lightly , of rules to follow, and this is how the Israelites responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded, we will obey.” Now that is a powerful statement to make to anyone let alone the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who brought you into existence, and could blow you into oblivion just because, but it is something every Christian should not only say but live.

After reading that verse my moms age old statement came to mind and what she had taught me from before I can honestly remember. “Quickly and with a good spirit.” As much as God would love for you to just obey Him you have to keep in mind that He is not looking at the actions but more so the heart. Even more then my mom He would love for you to obey Him out of love, not necessity.

The next time God, or anyone for that matter, gives you an order I hope my moms wisdom comes to mind. That we would never act out of anything but a pure and loving spirit for a creator more worthy of anything we can do, so the least we can do is obey Him out of love.

“Quickly and with a good spirit.”

With six months behind me, undergoing discipleship has been transforming my character and influencing my faith greatly. Being taught by Pastor Chilly has humbled me a lot, if not inspired me with new found perspectives. However, it’s not this man that I’m wanting to be like, but who he is being an excellent ambassador and image-bearer of, that is Christ. He has challenged me personally to die to myself, lose my preference and not just to love people in time tables when ministry arises but all the time! Through discipleship, I’ve had the opportunity to take in a bunch of wisdom. Yet, as much as I gain in head knowledge I’ve had to make a heart belief by going home and studying what I’ve been taught so that I can truly make out what I believe and stand for rather than simply being inspired to be a better person.

I would definitley say that my prayer life has grown. With an hour of prayer scheduled for six times a week and various opportunities to pray before engaging ministry, I’ve learned to take advantage of it. Yet, in the midst of the privilege to set aside time to converse with God, I’ve been able to capitalize on prayer by realizing I need more than just the set time slots. I need to chat with God back at home, not just when I’m doing devotions, about the lives of kids, the desire to grow in faith, the drive to see a city be taken for the King and even the small details in life. In simple terms, I’m learning to seek God out for myself not just as Savior or an answer to my problems (Not that He can’t solve them), but as MY Father, MY Healer, MY Jesus.

Then there is the blessing of being able to do kids’ ministry three times a week, youth ministry every Friday and two Sunday services. Even with those privileges, it never gets tiring but inspiring and motivating because it’s another chance to love the mess out of someone, tell someone about Jesus or inform a person that they do matter, even if they don’t think so themselves.

Appreciative

Ben