Bobby Lepinay

God's Will

Without question, one of, if not the BIGGEST questions the truly sincere believer faces is how to determine God's will in the myriad of situations and decisions we face on a regular basis.

There are the big things:  Life relationships (marriage, etc..), career choices, moves and on and on.  But the smaller things, things not necessarily covered in Scripture - such as where to go to college, which car to buy, how to spend your money, or whether or not to put Grandma in a nursing home kind of decisions - these can cause much turmoil in the sincere Christian's mind and heart.

Sunday night at our Harvest @ 5 service, I will be speaking on "God's Promise of Guidance".  As I am preparing, I am really excited about Sunday, as I know without a shadow of a doubt, people WILL be encouraged in this all important area of discerning God's Will.

Next Sunday starts our "One Prayer" summer series.  We will be teaming up with over 1100 churches around the world, from all sorts of denominations and backgrounds, to answer the question:  "If there was ONE PRAYER you could pray, what would that prayer be?" 

www.oneprayer.com

Enjoy the sunshine! :)

PB

 

Lakeland Revival

As many of you know, last month when I went down to Lakeland to help Michael move back up, I tried to visit the revival going on in Lakeland.  I couldnt get in, but have since been able to watch some of it on God.tv. 

I have had more than a few folk ask me about my thoughts on it, and if Harvest is going to 'jump on the wagon', so to speak, to which (if you read my post yesterday! :)..), I answer, "No, we are sticking with the mission God has given us and that does not change.  If you need 'reviving', get revived, then come and work in the Harvest, helping us reach people for Jesus!!!!"

:)

Anyway......I am pasting and copying what my actual 'formal response' is, as truth is, I do have a few concerns, but overall bless it.  I have spent time researching Todd Bentley, as I had not been familiar with him before, concerns from other pastors, testimonies of people, and thus am not making a hasty judgement. 

If anyone asks what Harvest position is, send them here....Here it is....:

First of all, I feel that when we talk or speak about anything that could potentially be a sovereign move of God we should be very careful not to judge hastily or with human reasoning. The fact that he has tattoos and piercings (which many are offended by) should not be a death sentence to what is taking place there. Harvest has LOTS of people with tattoos and piercings and if that is a qualifier, we are in trouble!! :) Jesus said we should examine the fruit and there is definitely good fruit coming out of this revival. It may not look like what some would like it to but nonetheless it is producing repentance, renewal, healing, deliverance, and all the manifestations of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Secondly, there is no need to draw a black and white line that says it is either “of God” or “of the devil”.   Giving it a little time will not hurt anything and will prove its validity or lack thereof. Many pastors and leaders have questions about Todd’s background and the fact that he has had emotional breakdown in the last few years. What about Peter 50 days before the day of Pentecost? He denied Christ completely then had him an emotional breakdown and went fishing again. I don’t doubt for a second that God can use any vessel that is hungry for more of Him. 

Finally, the last thing I want to say is that the major point of concern  is the heavy amount of references to visitations of angels and visits to heaven where he has talked to many of the old saints face to face. Paul said that he had visited the 3rd heaven and saw things humans were not allowed to speak of.  Don't know....it just bothers me when the WORD isnt the basis of what we do. Angels should never be given much attention or glory, nor saints that have passed. This one area is the place where I think great caution should be used.  The "Emma" angel thing is especially a concern, that visited Todd and brought the same anointing as William Brahahm. 

To sum it all up, I leave you with a scripture that I feel brings clarity to this whole thing and hope you will look at the passage surrounding it.  Lets try hard to tread lightly with 'sacred things' which we may or may not agree with, "embracing the meat, spitting out the bones": 

Acts 5:38-39…But if it is from God you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.

Great grace...and peace.. to you today,

PB

Missional Church

Last week, I had a few conversations where I was asked what kind of church Harvest is. 

Is it a charismatic church?  Is it a revival church?  Is it a 'seeker' church? What KIND of church is Harvest??? (ALWAYS asked by highly 'churched' folk, by the way...)

My answer?  Harvest is a MISSIONAL CHURCH. 

Harvest is completely focused around the Great Commission, Jesus' heart, of reaching those away from God, helping them become empowered by the Holy Spirit to live overcoming lives, then join in the MISSION by serving God out of an overflowing life. 

To condense it down, "Helping spiritual seekers (no matter where they are in the journey, or not even yet on it!) become Spirit empowered servants of Jesus Christ"

To condense it further......."Seeker to Servant".....that is what we do at Harvest, period.

Its funny (but sad) how self- focused and self absorbed Christians often are. 

Its all about US.  "Feed ME.....I need to be fed....(grow up.....start feeding YOURSELF!!)....entertain me...FIX me...me....me...memememememe...." 

What kills me is that these very people will come for awhile, get fixed, get fed, then just when they are becoming truly useful to serve, go somewhere else and the cycle starts all over. 

Seriously, in the last month, this is what I have heard from (ALWAYS) church people visiting Harvest, disgruntled with the church they just left:  (I am not kidding...we send out a survey......they actually take the time to write this stuff out...!)

• The music is too loud
• The music is too tame....not edgy enough.  ('It needs to be cranked UP!!)
• The service is too long
• The service is too short
• There was too much prayer in the service
• There was not enough prayer
• The pastor needs to dress up more (no jeans)
• The pastor is too 'old school'...(I heard this one 2nd hand...not edgy enough??)
• There is too much lifting hands, etc...(etc..mine)
• There isnt enough lifting hands, etc...(expression...like we put a gun to everybody and say HANDS UP?????...:)..)
• There is too much emphasis on the Holy Spirit
• There is not enough of the gifts of the Spirit

Yes, we embrace the present working of the Holy Spirit, but with a PURPOSE:  To help people become Spirit empowered SERVANTS of Jesus Christ!!!! 

I am TIRED of trying to please the 'Consumer Christian' who is NEVER SATISFIED.  They take up your time, your attention, your focus,.... then in the end, do what they did at the last church:  leave and go somewhere else. 

We are pretty full on Sunday mornings, which is where we meet and expect the 'seekers' to come in.  I just want to say, "Please, PLEASE....if you have a 'shopping list'....KEEP MOVING!!!  Dont waste our time.  Leave the seats open for those who really want to help us in doing our MISSION, or, for those who really are far away from God."

As you can tell, this is a real, real 'sore' subject for me.....Thus so much of the ALL CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!

....Sorry..! :)

I could go on, but time will not allow.  I want to be doing what Jesus would be doing.  I want to build a church that will go the long haul and see MANY in heaven who would not have been there without Harvest existing.  I want to be surrounded by co-laborers for the rest of mine and Deb's earthly lives who live, eat, breathe the above. 

People that "GET IT". 

As I told someone last week......GET REVIVED.... THEN GET TO WORK. 

For me?  "My food (that which revives me personally) is to do the WORK of Him who called me."  (John 4)  And I WILL be surrounded by happy, blessed, engaged, 'can-do' attitude people who LOVE serving God as well!!

Off my 'soapbox' for today...

PB

Random Thoughts on a Thursday.....

I have to meet our Architect this morning to begin the process of putting on paper all we want to do.  There is something about writing things down that is so important in the process of turning dreams into reality.  I cant wait....!! :)

1. What is "One Stop"?  Though not the official name,  "One Stop" will be THE 1 place everyone has to go for any and all county services, ie, permits, etc..etc.. No more driving all over town.  Everything will be here.
2. Our meeting with the County officials went great.  LOTS of favor, as they want to work with us.  As we told them, "we want to serve our area, period.." their ears perked up, as they are not used to churches coming to them with that attitude.  They will have over 300 employees there, with lots of single moms who will need daycare, which we will provide the BEST....right next door! 
3. The building will be "green" as well.  They will have an atrium and 'garden roof' where employees can take breaks, which is what we are hoping to do as well.  They also are utilizing a new surface for the parking lot that actually absorbs the rainwater instantly, recycling it up to the roof to irrigate the 'garden roof'.  They also LOVED the idea of us putting in a state of the art coffee bar that their employees could come to during the day.  EVEN OUR BUILDING WILL BE A FORM OF OUTREACH!!!
4. Whatever you do.....DO NOT MISS THIS SUNDAY @ HARVEST!!!  I am fired up about my message Sunday morning as we continue our 'God @ The Box Office' series with 'I Am Legend':  Understanding the Last Days".  There is HUGE interest in the 'last days' right now and I intend to try to bring clarity to the cloudiness. Bring a friend!  Bring family!  Bring your pet...!  (jj!!)
5. Pastor Craig will continue our Harvest @ 5 series called "God's Will".  Do you struggle to figure out what God's will is for your life??  Be there or be square..!! (corny...I know...:)..! )

See you this Sunday, expecting GREAT THINGS!!

PB

Important Meetings

In just about an hour (9:30), we are having a meeting with the County to see how we can work together, since they are building the Escambia 'One-Stop' (the biggest project of the next year) right next door to our building on Herman Street.

Tommorow, we meet with Brian Spencer, one of the top architects in Florida, to begin the process of envisioning a truly GREAT building that will bless our city.  As our Financial Board has been discussing this, one thing we know:  Harvest is to lead the way in our city, to set precedent!

We will be planning a totally "green" building, as cost effectively as possible.  I will put pictures on here as they come.  Trust me:  It will be totally AWESOME!!

Gotta run....please pray as we begin the process of rebuilding our 'home'!!!

PB

What A Weekend..!

It's been almost a week since I last posted......LOTS of family stuff for sure!

• Drove up to Birmingham for Brittany's 24/7 Graduation Banquet on Friday morning.  Friday was also Michael's 23rd birthday.......unbelievable!  We celebrated with coffee at Starbucks before the banquet.  ???  (...never done THAT before!)
• The Graduation Banquet was great.  Brittany won the award for most improved athlete.  When she started in September, she could hardly run 15 minutes (adult asthma).  By the end, she was one of the fastest at running a 'semi-marathon' (13 miles) through the mountain roads.  Amazing.....we are so proud of her!
• Brit wanted to celebrate with a Cracker Barrel breakfast on Saturday morning.  From there, we went to a beautiful home on lots and lots of acres where 24/7 had a pool party.  Deb and I spent time with the Assoc Pastor and his wife, looking at maps of Italy.....
• ...Oh, did I mention that Thursday night, Deb and I won a trip to Tuscany at the IMHC auction???!!!  We had been planning since we got married to celebrate our 25th in Italy, and praise God, this fell into place!!
• We will be staying in a farmhouse all to ourselves that an Italian film producer owns, up on a Tuscan hillside, overlooking the medival town of Monticello (sp).  Vineyards, Olive groves all down below.......with that, we get a personal tour of the little crooks and crannies of the town, as well as a 5 star dinner at one of the town's renowned restaurants.  TOO COOL..!!!
• Our 25th Anniversary is next April.  I am planning on doing a Renewal of the Vows ceremony at our Harvest @ 5 service, before the entire church. CANT WAIT!!!
• We did PF Changs twice.  Once to celebrate Courtney's 20th birthday, the other, .....no real reason...other than we LOVE Changs!! :)
• Saw "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" on Sunday afternoon after church.  I really liked it better than the first.....apart from the 30 minutes or so I fell asleep in!! :)
• Took Brittany to the airport at 4am Monday morning to fly to China.  She comes back June 19th. We were WASTED, and still kind of are!!!
• I heard Pastor Craig really delivered this weekend at BOTH services.  I especially heard the Harvest @ 5 message was fantastic on 'God's Will'.  www.harvestpensacola.com

Please lift up my little girl (?!) over the next month.  They could not tell us where they will be, except the general province they will be ministering in, as to do so would possibly put the Chinese leaders in those areas in jeopardy.  Seriously, she asked for as much prayer as we can give.  They will be working with the YWAM base there.

Grace,

PB

Iron Man

As usual, we had a GREAT weekend at Harvest!  The ministry was solid, the Word received, the worship sweet and pure. 

I love our church!! :)

Deb and I caught "Iron Man" Friday evening and all I can say is,.... WOW!!  Most people would dismiss a 'superhero' movie like this, but trust me, it is FANTASTIC!  It is everything a blockbuster summer movie should be, with Robert Downey Jr. giving the turn-around performance of his career. 

I am even pondering using it for our "God @ The Box Office" series we just started.....if you have seen it, try to guess the topic we would do...??? :)

If you havent seen it, try to catch it this week and share here what you see in it here, ....what themes could we weave a Biblical principle into? 

This should be interesting..! :)

I will be out the rest of this week for a personal fasting retreat.  I would appreciate your prayers, as I am trusting God to speak to me in several areas. Sometimes you just have to get away with "Daddy", eh..!!

Love you guys,

PB

Pastor Gerald

Last August, we had a pastor named Gerald Martinez and his family visit with us at Harvest.  They pastor a Vineyard church in Albequerqe, NM where Nate and Jan Sewell attend. 

GREAT people with a huge heart for the poor.

Gerald and his clan parked an RV that had been lent to them by a wealthy person in their church in the NTF parking lot for a few days to enjoy our beaches here.  They had not been on a family vacation for many years, as they live among the destitute, the drug dealers, the prostitutes, etc...in the toughest area of their city.

I have not met more humble, gentle people in my life!  "Having nothing, but having all things", as Paul would say, pretty much described their family. 

Well, they had no idea that their little church back home had sent them away in order to meet with the Extreme Home Makeover team who had selected THEM as their 'project' for their April 28th show!! 

I have to say that I teared up again (2nd time this week....) at the amazing fact of God's provision for these guys, as I KNOW from talking with them that they had very little, but really did practice "Seek 1st the Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you as well."

Take the 1 minute watch the news feature here.  Wow...How encouraging....God is GOOD!! :)

Struggling With Weight

Over the past 3 days, I have had 3 conversations with people who really are struggling with the ability to lose weight/keep weight off.  These are some of the most precious, dear saints I know, and my heart really goes out to them, as I know that they really are fighting.

I myself am battling my own personal battle with the bulge!  It seems that being mid 40's makes the fight that much harder, but as I shared with these precious saints this week, the option is not really an option!

Here are some of the things I shared with them, that I believe apply to whatever struggle we face with our bodies, be it addictions, lusts,....whatever.....I believe these things apply:

1. Don't treat your body as an enemy.  I Cor 6:13 says that "the Lord cares for the body." (NLT).  Eph 5 says we are to "take care of our body."  Our bodies are to serve us as we go thru this life and experience life thru the 'vehicle' of our mortal bodies.  Our mindset needs to be that rather than fight our bodies, we need to seek to understand them, to bless them, to treat them well, as we would a friend.  Sometimes our bodies get 'ornery', get sick, diseased, much like a car if you dont maintain it right.  More on that later..?? 
2. Realize your body has 'genetic propensities'.  We are all 'flawed' from the fall of creation, and our bodies inherit propensities and tendencies from our forefathers.  You may have a propensity to weight gain.  Or it may be toward alcohol addiction. It may be toward sexual deviation (ie, homosexual bends, etc..etc..).  There is no limit to the directions the 'sinful nature' can go, but each of us has our OWN propensity that we must bring to the Lord.
3. Our propensities must be 'crucified'. (Romans 6)  This is where the challenge comes.  I can not allow my propensities to rule me, whatever they may be.  The real me, my spirit man/woman, must be sovereign and in control, ruling over my own personal Kingdom, ie, my soul (emotional life), my flesh (body).  If I allow my body or soul to run the show, ....trouble....BIG trouble!
4. Receive GRACE and dont try to fight by yourself! "The grace of God teaches us to say NO to ungodly lusts (food, sex, whatever is 'out of bounds')"  (Titus 2)  Grace is God's supernatural help to do what we naturally COULD NOT do in our own strength. 

Again, my heart goes out to those of you who really fight this battle.  As you can see from above, we ALL have our own battles with our bodies and it's various "misdeeds".  But my prayer is that your heart and soul would be comforted in your Father's love, REGARDLESS.  He loves us in all our imperfections, and is WITH us as we fight our own personal battles, unti the day we get NEW, redeemed bodies!

May you be relieved, and not burdened of heart.  May you fight the good fight with grace, knowing you are created in the image of God, cherished, beautiful in His eyes.

Again, GRACE, GRACE, GRACE to you, in Jesus' Name....!!

PB

"Anyone For Latin Dance Workout??"

I was between sets yesterday, laying on the press bench, when I heard a lady walking through the gym, trying to recruit people to go in the class she was starting in 5 minutes.

"Anyone for a Latin Dance Workout??", she said, repeatedly. 

Now, even if what I am about to say wasn't the case, there is NO WAY IN HADES that I was, or ever would go, in that class!!!

But that is besides the point.  I continue my story.....that does have a point...! :)....

Bless her heart, not one person followed her into that class.  I suspect that what went through my mind is probably what went through the mind of every single other person in there: Here was the teacher, very overweight herself, wearing tight gym stuff that causes skin that should not be seen anyway to be RIGHT OUT THERE.....just out there....kind of like the old men you see at the beach wearing speedos...???....or the middle aged guys and gals wearing thong bathing suits.....?.......calling out for everyone to FOLLOW HER into the class she was leading!!!!!?????

Hey, I have my share of 'unsightly areas', but that stays between me, my wife, and lots of layers of clothes, if you get my point! :)

Bottom line?  Every single person in there, including myself, had to be asking THE big question:  WHY? ...WHY would we go in there to do what you are doing,....to look like that?????"  Something is not adding up here.....

And then, as I layed there thinking about this, it occured to me....."Isn't this EXACTLY what the problem is with trying to get most people to go into a modern day church in America??"  We are saying, "Come, follow me into the church I attend!!" 

But we have a problem......IF THEY CANT SEE OBVIOUS RESULTS IN OUR LIVES....WHY?...WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THEY WANT TO FOLLOW US IN????

I hope this somehow makes sense, but it sure made alot of sense to me in that moment.  An invitation is great, folks.  But without a '"compelling LIFE'" behind the invitation, I cant help but to believe that just like everyone in that gym, they are left wanting.  We have to give them the WHY to come to the churches we are inviting them to. 

They have to SEE it first in us!!

People want to see results before they take a step toward faith.  "Fruit",.... Jesus called it in John 15.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, self-control. 

When they see THAT, our invitations will carry some weight.

Just a thought! :)

PB