I’m Thirsty October 6, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Spiritual Growth.add a comment
A few posts ago, I wrote about how I experienced the presence of God in a way that has seriously changed my life. I finally figured out what the ‘problem’ is; I’m thirsty. I seriously can’t get enough of Him. My soul is so thirsty for more of His presence.
” As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2)
Next Chapter… August 29, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Evangelism, Life in General, PBC, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
It goes without saying that God is so good! One year ago I was going through one of the most difficult times in my life but by the grace of God here I am, still standing strong and moving forward in life. I just got back from my school’s kick-off retreat and it was so much fun. In a lot of ways, it was officially the end of summer for me. Ever since I moved back to Antioch for the summer it’s felt like a dream, and between being in Portland and Las Vegas during the last three weeks, it still felt like a vacation. Is life really supposed to be this good? I’ve been on this journey since the summer started. The Holy Spirit has strategically allowed me to experience the presence of God like never before. From the very first sermon I heard, to this past week at our retreat, the Lord has been leading me on an amazing ride.
Character
It started with my character. Who I am is more important than what I do. If my life isn’t backing up what I stand for then that’s a problem.
The Presence of God
I can do nothing apart from God. The more I try to, the more frustrated I’ll become. I must rely on the Lord to lead me in life and I can never substitute my ‘God time’ with anything else, I have to be disciplined with my devotional life. I recently had the privilege of meeting Bill Hybels and I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, “Whatever it is you do that brings you to the presence of God, keep practicing those things and never stop doing them. Fads and trends will come and go but the presence of God will never change. It’s the presence of God that will lead you through life.
Application
The only way I’ll see fruit in my life is to actually apply everything I’m learning. For me personally, evangelism is what’s on my heart the most. I want to see people the way God does. I want my heart to break for those who don’t know the Lord.
I’m excited for what’s in store this semester. I’m really looking forward to this next year and I know that it will only get better from here on out. It’s such a great feeling to know you’re right in the middle of the Lord’s will for your life.
This is the end of another chapter in my life.
Change of Plans August 3, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Evangelism, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
Most of us can’t escape the busyness of life, and if you’re like me, you get frustrated when your ‘planned’ schedule doesn’t always go the way you want it to. I’m the type of person who plans his months in advanced. By the first day of each month I pretty much know where I’ll be for the next thirty days or so. As much as I love it when my schedule goes smoothly, I’m learning the joy that comes when it doesn’t go smoothly is actually better than when it does.
This past Friday I was supposed to drive out to the Oakland Airport to pick up a package. I waited all day until I finally found out our order was coming in later than we had expected. Because it came in later than we expected, I had to postpone my trip to Oakland until the following morning. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but I had plans to drive out to Modesto (close to two hours in the opposite direction) and spend the day with a couple of friends. Driving out to Oakland meant I had to wake up extra early on a Saturday morning! So yeah, it wasn’t what I had hoped for, but it is what it is. When I arrived in Oakland to pick up our package a man named Theodore, who was sitting in the waiting room, over heard me talking about how I was picking up a package for my church. Sure enough, this lead to a great conversation between the two of us for a good half hour, which by the way was not in my ‘planned itinerary’ for the day. When we were done talking I had the wonderful opportunity of not only getting to pray for him, but I also had the chance to invite him to church and bless him with a CD of one of our sermons. (I know it’s not much but it was all I had) I left the airport with the confidence that Theodore was one step closer to the Lord.
Just about 99.9% of the time my ‘planned’ schedule doesn’t go the way I had hoped for, it usually means the Lord has a divine encounter waiting to take place. It took me a while to realize this, but it’s true, and it happens every time! One of the greatest feelings in the world is to know that we’ve done our duty as a Christian and led somebody else closer to the Lord. So the next time things don’t go the way you had hoped for, get ready for your divine encounter! If you’re open to it, you’ll find it.
Summer Camp 08 July 28, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Reflecting Upon Life, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
I recently had the privilege of attending our church’s summer camp. It was also the second time I went as a youth leader. To be honest, it was quite an emotional week for me. I say that because it’s been six years since I myself attended the same camp as a sixteen year old boy. It was as this camp where I found a purpose. Everything started to make sense. Not only did I go as a youth leader but I also had the wonderful honor of being the drummer for the worship team. I’ve been a part of a lot of worship teams and I’ve played through countless amounts of worship sets, but playing at this years camp will go down as one of my favorites. I say that because the rest of the worship team were guys that I met at my first camp. We were all teenagers at the time, but here we were six years later, coming together for one week to lead God’s children into His presence. I was so encouraged to watch us come together in unity after all these years and minister to the next generation. The four of us have all traveled down the different paths of life, we’ve all matured in different ways, and it had easily been a couple of years since most of us had talked with each other, yet by the grace of God we were able to stay on the right path. Then it hit me. On the very last day the mic was open to anyone who wanted to give a testimony of what the Lord had done in their life. Watching those students share their testimony with the rest of the camp was a reminder of why I’m living the way I am.
It’s really not about us. We truly are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves! One of the most beautiful things about the the Body of Christ is that we can’t accomplish anything unless we (1) abide in christ and (2) work together. It takes a lot of unselfish people to build great churches. Most of us won’t outlive the dream that sits in the deepest part of our soul. If it’s truly a dream from the Lord, I’d like to believe it’s something that will outlive us. But it takes an unselfish person to dream like this because they realize that one day they’ll have to step aside and let another person take over. I live the way I do because I realize there’s a younger generation desperately searching for someone to look up to, and who knows, maybe one of them will be the one who takes my spot when my time is up. It’s just a matter of time before we pass the baton to the next generation of leaders.
Living Generously July 25, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Money, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
It took a while but I’ve finally come to the realization that I’m blessed to be a blessing to those around me. When it’s all done and said, it all belongs to the Lord anyway. I’m nothing but a steward of what He’s given me. I recently had the privilege of blessing another person with some money. (Please see my heart. I’m not trying to brag.) But I can’t even describe the amount of joy that fell upon me when I took the money out of my wallet knowing that one of my sisters in the Lord would be blessed because of it! As soon as we realize that were nothing but stewards of what the Lord has blessed us with, giving becomes that much easier. It’ll turn from a ‘have to’ to a ‘want to!’
I realize that as a single young man I have the wonderful opportunity to get my financial life in order before it’s too late. The Lord’s granted me a short amount of time to get my life in order before I take on all of the major responsibilities of life. (marriage, family, ministry, ect.) I don’t want to take that for granted. I don’t make a lot of money, but my income shouldn’t be the deciding factor of how generous I am. I want to be faithful with the few things so that the Lord will trust me with the many things. I have the opportunity to take the small amount of money I have and show the Lord that He can trust me with it. I want to be a prosperous man, but I want to experience prosperity with a purpose.
“Matthew 6:19-21 - “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 25:21 - “His mater replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
Waiting and Dating July 10, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Books, Dating, Life in General, Spiritual Growth.3 comments
I recently finished a book entitled Waiting and Dating: A Sensible Guide to a Fulfilling Love Relationship by Dr. Myles Munroe. In my opinion, it’s one of the best books on dating I’ve read by far! With that being said, I’m in the mood to write about the wonderful topic of romantic relationships. Oh yes, the ‘R’ word! I’ll have it up soon…
DREAM IT.08 comes to an end June 25, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Conferences, My Travels, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
This conference was awesome! God moved in so many different ways and it was very refreshing. The conference call this morning went great. It was really neat to watch so many Christian Pastors and leaders across the state of California unite together and rise to the challenge. There were quite a few influential voices throughout the conference call challenging all of the churches that represent California to rise up and believe that we can make a difference in the outcome regarding the California Marriage Protection Act in the upcoming election this November. But yeah, back to the conference. Here are some of the things that stuck out to me today’s sessions…
Jake Larson
- Discipleship is what we do and it never ends. It’s a life long journey.
- We must live our truths. The truths we live will speak volumes to those around us.
- We have to be people who model the life of Jesus.
- There are people all around us who are looking for someone to disciple them.
- We cannot settle just because people are in our church. We must make them disciples.
- Work and creativity are always linked together.
- Learn from everybody.
- The Bible does not deserve to be served as a watered down message.
- The church is a table and Pastors must serve great food.
- Pastors are giving samples to people who have already been fed.
- The Pastor is the “Dude with the food”.
- We shouldn’t put power into the hands of someone who doesn’t know anything about church.
- We have to think about the people who are walking through the doors of our church.
- It takes a bunch of unselfish people to grow a church.
- The greatest leaders are appointed and anointed.
Update from Sacramento June 24, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Conferences, My Travels, Spiritual Growth.1 comment so far
Tonight’s session just ended and boy did the presence of God show up! It was so awesome! This whole day has been amazing and I truly can’t thank the Lord enough for what He’s doing through His church. Erwin McManus spoke at the first session of the day and he gave a great message. It was very thought provoking but at the same time, very good stuff. After that they did a panel session with Rick Cole, the senior Pastor of Capital Christian Center, Erwin McManus and Bill Hybels. It was a very insightful hour full of questions and answers. We had our breakout sessions after lunch and I went to the session entitled “The Gutter” lead by Craig Gross, the founder of XXXchurch.com. To top it off, Israel & New Breed opened tonight’s session with a few songs of worship, Pastor Rick Cole preached an awesome message on leadership, then New Breed came back out and we had an awesome time of worship for almost two hours! Here are some of the things that stuck out to me from each session…
Erwin McManus
- We believe that Jesus is the hope of the world yet we often spend more time encouraging and equipping each other.
- If our hearts won’t take the time to reach out to the one then we have no business trying to reach out to the many.
- We need to lead people from where they are to the presence of God.
- People will sometimes have to follow us and trust us before they can follow and trust God.
- If our church’s disciples aren’t evangelizing then we are raising up the poorest disciples possible.
- Church isn’t about Sunday. We have to create multiple amounts of community.
- We should always try to focus on the good things happening across the world in the Kingdom of God.
- If we truly believe that people will be better off with Jesus then we must engage and be relevant.
- If we love a group of people with reckless abandonment, great things will happen.
- We must never underestimate the part we play in evangelism.
- We must always take the time to invest in ourselves.
- Classic Spiritual Disciplines: Bible Reading; Prayer; Solitude; Journaling.
- Why blame the dark for being dark when we should blame the light for not shining bright enough?
- Pastors are not immune to the battle of pornography.
- We won’t always have instant results when we have an impact on someones life.
- There are so many people watching us on a daily basis. How we live our life matters!
- There are so many people around us who are desperately looking for another way.
- We have to care about people more than their ministries.
- The message of Jesus doesn’t divide, it brings people together.
- Impossible odds set the stage for amazing miracles.
- It’s not about us. It’s about God and what we can do for Him.
- Bible college doesn’t prepare us for everything we’ll experience in ministry.
- Leaders need to be healthy and lead from their strengths.
- The people around us can tell when we’ve spent time with God.
- We need to become less religious and more real.
Bill Hybels: Vision June 23, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Conferences, My Travels, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
Tonight’s session was awesome! Before tonight, I’d never heard Bill Hybels speak on anything. He did such a good job communicating the importance of how a leader must own the vision. Here are some of the things that stuck out to me:
- A vision must be deeply owned
- A vision will never become a reality unless key members of the group own it
- Vision = A picture of the future that produces passion in the people
- Just because a vision is clear doesn’t mean it’s owned
- Do we own the vision only when it’s convenient, or do we own it all the time even with it’s hard and frustrating?
- The leader must always stay focused on the vision. They must never focus on themselves!
- A church that models the Acts 2 example will have endless amounts of opportunities.
Living with discipline June 18, 2008
Posted by Joseph Garibay in Spiritual Growth.1 comment so far
“We do what we have to now so that we can do what we want to later.”
I heard this while watching The Great Debaters a few weeks ago and it’s been stuck in my mind ever since. I know without a doubt that there’s a calling upon my life. My life isn’t an accident. I’ve been placed on this earth for a purpose, a purpose with a calling. With that calling comes responsibility and with the responsibility comes discipline. I’m not going to wake up one day and miraculously become the man of God I’ve been called to be. I have to work at it, every day! The potential that lies in the deepest part of our soul is so great! The only thing hindering ourselves is us because we’re often our own worst enemy. A lot of times we’re not willing to make the small sacrifices in life so that we can ejoy the great rewards. We’ve sacrificed the journey for instant success. Where’s the fun in that? We’ve all been created with a very unique purpose and no individual is greater than anyone else. That’s the beauty of the Kingdom of God, we’re all on the same team striving to reach the same goal. But in order to reach the goal we have to be willing to live our life with discipline, and in order to live our life with discipline we have to be people of vision. Without vision people perish. People who understand that they’re a part of something bigger than themselves find it easy to live their life with vision because they realize there’s work to be done. Everything I’m doing right now is preparing me for my future. Everything from cleaning the toilets at work to assisting world class speakers at conferences, it’s all having an impact one way or another. Let’s be people of discipline, the reward is far to great to miss out on! I have no problem doing what I have to now so that I can do what I want to later.
