God is In control?

Is God in control?
When talking to a few of the youth I hear a cliche often stated in reference to our understanding of God. God is in control, was the cliche. Well O.K..  Of what is God in control? Well, everything.  Hmm!  The discussion begins and the question is posed to the youth about who is in control? Can God control those of us who choose to reject Him?  Well of course He can, but, can He?  Can God lie?  Could Jesus sin?  Can God take away free will if he has given it to us?  Is God in control if a sinner is committing a horrific sin against an individual?  Contradictions don't exist in the nature of God.  It is against Gods very nature to give us free will then take it away.  So how is God in control?  If we submit to his will!  The only way God can get glory from a human being is if we submit to Him. Our will has to be aligned with His will and in submission there should come obedience.  Look at this verse from Hebrew as Christ Jesus gives us a perfect example of submission. Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. See God is in control to that which he has chosen to control as stated in Colossians 1:15-20 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Certainly looks as if God is in control to me.  However, in reference to our free will, our rejection of God which lead to the fall of man and our sin that leads us to death, That is on us if we choose to reject Jesus and His constant calling to Him for salvation.  He has given us control and it is our choice to submit to His perfect and pleasing will for us. Jesus is not in control of the sinner, we are!  Just a though!
God Bless!

Christian Walk

It's not  just stating a belief. It's not about mere knowledge of truth. It's not about our feelings. It's not about us. Us getting something. Us having some false sense of purpose, meaning and a philosophy in which to stand on. It's a savior, A counselor, a being so Holy, so loving, so desiring a people experience the Glory of the essence of his being. A being so intent on us experiencing an eternity of joy and peace. Void of pain, selfishness, pride, ego, anger, frustration and turmoil forever. A being that wishes for us to have a glimpse and a taste of that now that we hunger and thirst for it forever. An essence that gives us joy and peace that surpasses any understanding of our human nature now. You can't explain it. You can't talk a single person into it. You can't convince, prod or reason anyone into the mystery of this experience. It's unique to each person. It's tailored specifically for you. It's waiting, calling for you, fighting and pleading for you, for all those who wish to experience a powerful, personal, and glorious relationship. If you don't have it, you might not even know your missing it. If you don't experience it, there is every opportunity "Today"  to gain it. Look to God, stop rejecting what you could be. Submit to what you have the opportunity to experience.
JESUS CHRIST. God became a man. We celebrate such on Christmas day. INTERCEDED FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSION TO GIVE YOU A WAY TO EXPERIENCE ALL THAT YOU MAY NOT EVEN REALIZE YOU NEED. Until one day you discover your separated from it forever in a miserable existence in the pit of evil and death called Hell.
Those of us who have Christ, are required to share Christ. Those of you who don't have Christ. Christ uses those who know him, to make Him known to you. To share the truth, To share the Good News.
God uses people to do His work and experience His joy. To reveal truth as we hold onto truth. To share hope as we persevere in hope. We are unshakable as we show His love. We do not judge, we are not the judge. We do not boast It's God who gets the glory. We do not do the work, God does it through us. That is the Christian walk. It's a walk one step behind of the Living God. Letting Him build Himself through the Holy spirit in us. Rejecting Him no more. Walking with Him as best we can wherever he goes. Please let me have this, I ask of you oh Lord. Please let me have this!

Rebuilding The Walls (The Next Phase)

The Ark is a youth outreach program in a low-income community in Southern New Jersey. We have responded to our calling from God for the youth in this community. Starting in a small local church, we have become our own 501(c)3. Since our inception, God had done amazing things through this ministry and with our limited financial resources, we have offered the youth of this community an alternative to the stigma that has been so prevalent in this community for years. This community is labeled a community of drugs, alcoholism, low-income broken homes, despair and a community without purpose. Through this ministry the kids are learning they have purpose, meaning and do not need to be trapped in the stigma that envelops this community. As we pray and look for direction of the ministry, we feel it's time to move to the next phase. Project "Rebuilding The Walls," so named because of the burden on my heart for the foundation of this community, is much like that of Nehemiah. The burden that God placed on a praying man's heart gave Nehemiah the resources, strength and resolve to accomplish a task placed on his heart by God. This project is a three phase plan to help remove the stigma, implement programs and create awareness to build the youth up in understanding they have purpose and meaning. Our mission statement, "Building up our youth in Truth, through Faith, Hope and Love," will be further perpetuated.  

The first phase will consist of reaching deep into the church community and sharing the vision and burden to become involved in the project and help rebuild the walls. We will need funds to build an interactive database on our website for volunteers to become involved. The database will give volunteers the opportunity to be categorized in their talent fields, commit to their availability and give us the information we need to facilitate them into the organization in helping the youth directly or indirectly. Putting together a volunteer base of professionals and laypeople is vital to the foundation on which to build the youth of this community.

The next Phase will be to reach deep into our community. Bring awareness to the culture the kids are consumed by, as well as help tutor, mentor and show Christ's love. We wish to saturate the community with information about who we are and project "Rebuilding The Walls." In this phase we will be having a community event and an awareness seminar, as well as rolling out a few of the programs we wish to implement for the youth; Our after school tutoring program and our Skate for Christ. To promote this, we will need funding for mailings and to facilitate the events, speakers and programs.

The final phase will be using our relationships and growing presence in the community, along with the relationships we have built over the past three years, to bring in businesses, local government, education systems as well as other strategic partners. We currently work in conjunction with the local government to facilitate a program at the local community center. We wish to bring further awareness through a second event in October which we will talk about the stigma in this community, the successes of  project "Rebuilding the Walls" and how we propel this forward into changing the culture in the community to affect the youth, then eventually the families and finally the culture as a whole.

The project will require $40,000 to fully implement the programs and effectively facilitate “Rebuilding The Walls,” and integrate it into the community, in turn propelling the ministry forward into our next phase. I believe the ministry has the support to bring in $15,000 through many who see this ministry first hand.  They see the behavior of these youth whom may be neglected, left alone, or uncared for, without appropriate role models which to learn right from wrong. Children who suffer abuse at the hands of family violence often learn that violence and lashing out is natural, even expected. They are unable to trust and feel they have any real meaning in life. Without this youth outreach, this epidemic would and seemingly already has, begun to reach epidemic proportion. We need commitment and involvement on many levels like those who are already committed to this cause to further our organizations impact on our community and I cordially invite you to join us.

We know our success depends on many factors and trust the results to God.  However, ongoing evaluation is a critical part of the project and the next phase. With the integrated database program to simplify interested individuals to volunteer and become involved, we will have the capacity to evaluate involvement and interest and it will be easily measured. Sign-in procedures, and already in place data recording, will show current involvement and increased participation. Evaluation techniques will be implemented to determine program effectiveness such as pre/post surveys, interviews, and satisfaction surveys. The progress and success due to your help in funding will be measured and disclosed.

We believe within the next phase and forward, this youth outreach will produce results pertaining to many complex social issues, including poverty, addictive behaviors, and traumatic events in the lives of our youth. Our outreach addresses their value as humans and help them redirect their lives to that of purpose and meaning. We believe the future of this program will aid the entire family unit creating the opportunity for complete behavior modification through support, love, and trust. Ultimately leading to overall reduction of risk factors that lead to addictions, despair and brokenness. Through this program, we will provide awareness, resources and support that are crucial to ending the stigma that plague this community we serve. Success would mean the families and communities we serve would no longer be overcome by brokenness and despair, but would have hope, purpose, meaning and faith instilled.

The Ark is where God is working, not man!
I know I am serving a God greater than I can imagine at times. I drove up to The Ark today and just sat and read the word on the hood of my car. As I heard many of the youth say Dave, what the %$###%%^  are you doing? I contemplate. Why am I here? Why me? Why do I feel so alone in this. God, today, I hate this, I can't deal with the chaos of being what seems to be a sheep among wolves.  As executive director of The Ark ministry, outside of the help of a brother Joe Sorrentino, I've been struggling mightily. God through the youth brought the answer swiftly. Mr Dave, you are here to feed us, as we wait for pizza to arrive, one youth says. Yes! Another concurred, and to give us just a little of God, and to hang with us, and to show us what a person who follows God is like. They answered the question in so many ways. I do love those kids! I do know why I am there, and I do know why God chooses who he chooses and its times like these that Jesus shows us how much we need Him! I am those kids, I am the one who needs to be counseled, directed, humbled,  I'm never alone, and but for the grace of God go I to love and serve the Lord for another day.  The youth were great today. They saw my struggle and God used them to bring truth and peace to me, Praise Jesus! I pray as it seems Pinelands youth group will have more of The Ark youth joining us tomorrow. God is working!  Pray for this community, our youth, and The Ark!

The Ark is back!

What a blessing to serve God!
We had a barbecue at The Ark and it was nice to see some new faces as well as some familiar faces this evening. A few hamburgers, with extra cheese of course, hot dogs and chips were on the menu and the kids were happy to see the ministry up and running again! We had a great opportunity to talk with some new kids and set up some interviews for next week to ask the youth some questions about God and Christianity!
Sparked allot of interesting dialogue. Really it was pretty laid back with very little structure. Just a basketball and a little friendly catching up with the kids. Word gets out fast around here and a couple of the youth have volunteered to do the grilling next week as we had ample help this week. It was nice to be overcome by the joy God gives and it reminds us once again it is just as much about God growing us as it is about the kids. I love those kids and can't wait for next week.
Please continue to pray for this ministry and thanks for all of your support!

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen 1 Peter 4:10-11

Time for restoration

As the cleaning out of Homes die down the restoration begins.
Most of you know I am a person who trusts God. For me if I know God keeps His promises. He sent His Son to die for us. If we know the story of Jesus, but remain deaf to His calling to each one of us the restoration will only begin in our the things of this time, in this world. But in reality.
It is time. Time for those who do not, to seek Him, Seekers to become believers and believers to be sanctified.
Isaiah 49:13-23 ESV /
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. ...
He is waiting, you are engraved on the palms of His hands.
Seek Him so that you may have Life.
He has a plan, knows and loves all of us. Did God cause this storm to bring us to Him or was it a result of a fallen people and world? We cannot try to figure out Gods motives, but we do know that He is perpetually calling all of us. Christ did not die for the select but for us all. I Have talked to so many people devastated by this storm. They see the blessings and the outpouring of love that has resulted from the storm. However I see struggles in attaching that to God working. God uses His people to do His work. He will be honored and glorified through this tragedy. Pray, for restoration of people and hearts to Jesus as well as homes. pray for those to seek Him and sing for joy. Pray that we see God working through His people and not people.
Praise Him.

Storm In The Storm

We pray, we lament, we share in the grief of a broken community. The Arks home was wiped away, closed indefinitely, but the mission field still remains. Broader, larger and in our face. Now a new mission begins within our mission. So many lost homes to be restored. There is work to be done and the support is amazing. Pinelands Church, Lighthouse Alliance with Operation Blessings, Calvary Baptist, St Theresas where the shelter is now running. There is also another restoration taking place. A restoration to Jesus. We pray they continue to show the work of Gods hand in all of this. The pain and suffering in the loss detaches  those from things we thought were important to think about that which is important. Things can be replaced although the loss is daunting and difficult. However, hope, caring and loving your neighbor as Jesus commands us is infinitely important. Things temporary come and go but its the things eternal we must seek. We will, we pray we will. God Bless all of those who lost so much. We pray that infinitely more is gained through this storm and that Jesus Calms the storm in our lives.