A text-msg question about getting high that I answered @ Skull Church.

When he arrives at the prophet’s home he is surprised and disgusted that the man of God doesn’t treat him like a VIP, he doesn’t even talk to him at all! He simply sends a message telling Naaman that if he were to dip 7x in the muddy Jordan river he would be healed. In the same way that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18) Naaman thinks this plan is the stupidest thing he has ever heard, and he almost leaves. In the end he humbles himself and does what he was told. As a result, Naaman’s leprosy was healed and his heart was transformed. He became a God-fearer and we can look forward to meeting him in heaven.

As riveting as the entire story is, to me the most exciting detail is the part played by the servant who referred him to Elisha in the first place. We don’t know her name or anything about her except that she was an Israelite that had been kidnapped and forced to live as a slave in Naaman’s house. Only two verses are given to her in the entire Bible (II Kings 5:2,3) and yet she was used powerfully by God in the healing and conversion of her influential master. How differently Naaman’s story would have gone had she not piped up. She certainly had every reason to NOT tell him about what God could do if he would make the trip to Israel. When raiding bands took slaves they often killed the men. She potentially saw her father murdered before being dragged off to live as a slave. In spite of this, she was filled with compassion and spoke spoke up in love.

We all need to realize the important role we have in the work of evangelism as we do something as simple as inviting people to a church service, an outreach or telling them about an online webcast they can watch where they will hear the gospel presented. Evangelist Greg Laurie, who has preached to over 4 million people in crusades says that says 85 percent of those who come forward at the invitation to follow Christ were brought by a friend. Opportunities to speak up are all around us and we never know what ginormous things God could do through our smallest act of faith.

History might remember the healing of Naaman as one of the miracles that God did through Elisha’s ministry, but in the Lord’s eyes this young chick was an equally important part of the process. In the end, both the one who sets and the one who spikes will receive equal spiritual rewards (1 Cor. 3:6). So look for an opportunity to be used by God today!

God has knit our hearts together and we have become great friends. My favorite thing about him is his intense passion for the gospel. Pedro is one of the most high-energy people that I have ever met, and he focuses all of that energy, like a laser, on reaching lost people for Christ. If you have heard him preach you know what I am talking about. But if you ever went out to eat with him you would see it there too–because he would be just as passionate sharing the gospel with a person he just met in the lobby of the restaurant.

His teaching show can be heard each weekday morning on Fresh Life Radio at 10am. Make sure to join us at Skull Church tomorrow night, either in person or through the webcast, but also pray about who God would have you invite or email a link to.

At it’s core skull church is all about one thing and only one thing, the gospel. It is a platform to amplify what happened at the place of the skull, where Jesus died on the cross, for the sins of the world. We are aggressively targeting a lost generation with the good news. And in the last year, through this ministry, we have seen 440 people make professions of faith in Jesus Christ. That is what skull church is all about. The people who have had their hearts rocked by Christ, the lives that have been changed. And we are sure that God has done even more than we are aware of as the messages have sounded forth on the radio, internet, and podcasts all over the country and beyond. If I have learned anything in the 8 years I have been preaching it’s this, God’s Word does not return void.

To celebrate properly we released a new shirt (it will be available to buy online later today here) showed a brand new version of the introduction video that sets the tone for each service (shown below) and had a proper birthday party at the Lab after the service. In all we went through some sixteen square feet of cake (topped with the skull church logo) and the coffee flowed like wine. I was unable to go to sleep until 3am as proof of this!

The highlight for me was hearing from different people after the service who have given their lives to the Lord in the past year and wanted to say how thankful they are for skull church. Those kind of stories are like spiritual rocket fuel. They intensify my resolve to preach the gospel and reach the lost. After all, time is short, life will be over soon and Jesus is coming back! It’s time to rise up so that those who are stranded in sin might find life and liberty in Christ.

Reflecting on the past is fun and it is special to pause and appreciate what has been–but now it’s onward and upward. I truly believe that skull church’s best days are still to come and I can’t wait to see what God has for us in this next year of ministry.

These guys are awesome and insane at the same time. I had the chance to do a little interview with them before the night got underway, check it out:

You can check out their new site here.

Last time I was in London I saw a guy on a street corner taking a long drag while staring intently at the bold type that sentenced him to certain cancer. Amazing. Although I read recently that in America obesity now kills as many people as smoking does each year–so maybe french fries should come with a similar warning.

Medical risks aside, is it a sin to smoke ciggs? That was a question I was texted and answered @ Skull Church.

Text-msg question about sex/dating answered @ Skull Church.

Through out the series we will see what the accurate transmission of a genuine faith looks like in different areas like: facing temptation, talking, spending cash and so on. James has been called “the Proverbs of the New Testament” for a reason, he hits on a ton of different subjects and it is all super practical.

I absolutely LOVE the ultra short film that our creative team generated for this series. My hat is off to them at the way they artistically ran with the Hi-Fi concept, both in the vid and with the stage design. you can check out the video here:

The teaching that follows the video is on what the High Fidelity life looks and sounds like in Trials.