Tory Farina

A Good Kid Bible...

I get asked periodically, what Bible would you recommend for my child? I wasn't sure what to say until recently. Olivia has a lot of books. Books about Bears and Hairs and Moses and Jesus but non of them have captivated her like this book.

My first study Bible, Is a paraphrase of the bible that is perfect for young readers. It has just the right amount of biblical accuracy without being over my three and a half year old's head. It also isn't a book about the bible meaning it hasn't been so watered down that it loses its "BIBLE" status. It has great little additions and thoughts in it that older kids can get into. We like this Bible and Olivia LOVES it. She could be read from it all day long.

So if your looking for a good kid bible check this one out.

Live in POWER!

On Sunday I had so much more to say. The content is so exciting to talk about. Here is an undeveloped glimpse at what I had to leave out.

When you have been with Jesus...

You Will do miracles:

Peter and John healing the man-

Acts 3:6-7 Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”  Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 

You Will have wisdom:

Knowledge is power... time with the Lord builds Wisdom and knowledge...

Jeremiah 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

People will remark. Where did you get that wisdom? Knowledge? You will be able to respond, “It came from Daily times with the Lord.”

You Will be an encouragement to others:

Isaiah 50:4 The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, So I know how to encourage tired people. 

Hurting people don’t need another cliché, they don’t need a pat on the back and an awkward sorry... they need people who will speak the Words of God over them and speak in faith and Victory!

You Will speak boldly...

Luke 12:11-12 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

You Will live by faith...

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

When you read the word of God you will see that nothing is impossible and that God works best as the underdog when the clock is ticking down to the end. You will be able to stand firm in the midst of trial, uncertainty and doubt.

You will be able to stand against temptation and the enemy...

Jesus in the wilderness quotes Deuteronomy to stand against Satan and temptation.

You were meant To Walk in POWER! Strength and Victory! Paul speaks to this same concept when he speaks to the Ephesians... A church of people like you...

Ephesians 6:10-12 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13-17 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We were never meant to be on the defensive... The Christian who lives in retreat, defeated, disqualified is no threat to the enemy...

Whenever a revival began or a reformation, its epicenter was among common people who were ignited by the Word Of God.

Lets live in POWER! Lets live rooted in the word of God. Lets live in such a way that what we read becomes an expected outcome in our daily life.

Lets Live Our Potential!

S.O.A.P. Explained...

At High Point Church our desire is that every believer would receive something from God’s word on a daily basis. Doing daily devotions re-patterns the way we think, focuses our prayer life, and transforms the way we hear and apply God’s word. When we face difficult situations, challenges, or temptations, we can call upon the wisdom of God’s word and respond accordingly.

Journaling is an excellent way to both record and process what God has spoken to us. It also becomes useful as a reference tool to reflect on and review some of the gems that you have received in the past. Without writing them down, you may forget those blessings, as well as some very important lessons! And although journaling provides for a very personal time with the Lord, you may end up wanting to share some of your daily journaling with others (e.g. your connection group, accountability group, or spouse). By discussing your devotions with others, you may be able to learn even more about what God was speaking to you, as well as offer encouragement to others. We call this daily process S.O.A.P (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer).

How to S.O.A.P.

Pick a place and a time. Try and keep it consistent so you do not let everything else in life take precedence. Plan on taking as much time as you need but I recommend 20 minutes to read and 20 minutes for observation, application, and prayer. You may need more time or less time but this will get you into a pattern of being in God’s presence on a daily basis.

You’ll need four items: Bible, pen, reading plan, and journal) or use a program like Youversion.com to store your journals and show you a daily reading plan. Here is a simple journal page! Download Soap 365 Daily Journal

S for Scripture

Open your Bible to your reading for the day. Take time as you read and allow God to speak to you. When you are done, look for a verse that particularly spoke to you and write it in your journal. (About 20 min.)

O for Observation

What do you think God is saying to you in this scripture? Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and reveal Jesus to you.

A for Application

Personalize what you have read by asking yourself how it applies to your life right now. It may be instruction, encouragement, a new promise, or even corrections for a particular area of your life. Write down how this scripture applies to you today.

P for Prayer

This can be as simple as asking God to help you use this scripture, or it may be a greater insight on what He may be revealing to you. Remember, prayer is a two-way conversation, so be sure to listen to what God has to say! Then write it out.

For more information on this concept or to see examples of journal entries, visit www.LifeJournal.cc

 

Visualizing the Bible...

Check this out...

Named one of the best science images of 2008 by the National Geographic News, Visualizing the Bible "... brings to light the interconnected nature of one of the world's most familiar books." The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.

This chart was created by Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Christoph Römhild, a Lutheran Pastor. Chris won the Honorable Mention in the NSF's Science & Engineering 2008 Visualization Challenge.

Its beautiful to see how God interweaves his truth throughout over 40 authors.

Withdrawal...

Through the month of January you are not going to hear much from me. I am taking a season of withdrawal in my life. Last November, I felt that I needed to hone in the focus of my heart and mind for God to do something big in me. Last year He called me to lose 55 lbs., and I am so glad I followed through. The Lord fulfilled promises and answered prayers for both me and the church through my act of obedience. This year I feel like I need to clear out as many voices as I can that might be distracting me from clearly hearing the voice of God.

 

Jesus did this often. I always wonder why Jesus — fully God and fully man — even needed to pray, rest, and recharge. But if He did, then so do I. This has been a stressful season for me and mine. Elizabeth's pregnancy, Rapid church growth and Seven years of full time ministry has its cost. I feel like we are getting ready for something larger and greater than we have yet to experience. Jesus withdrew to rest, get stronger, hear from God, and have a fresh word for the people he was sent to lead. Moses went to the mountain top and came back luminous. Daniel prayed and fasted to break through impossible circumstances. I need more from God to live the life I am called to live and I want to withdraw to gather strength for greater things Yet to come!

 

Here is my plan...

 

• Read — I started a reading plan to go through the Gospels in 30 days. (You can do the same at www.youversion.com.) My goal is to study Jesus and His withdrawal moments — how and why He prayed.
• I am also reading “Leading On Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro- I feel like he is personally walking me through how to defragment my life. I am taking each chapter and walking through each chapter with Elizabeth and the Lord. What an AWSOME experience.
• Fast (check more out here)
• Food — This looks different for everyone some fast food totally, partially or fast a particular type of food. For me I am doing a combination of things.
• Media

-  I am cutting out as many secular non-worshipful voices as I can. Music, movies, magazines and books that do not point me to Jesus will be cut from my appetite this month. Television has been reduced to only News sources.

-  No blogs, no Facebook and NO Twitter — I am having withdrawals. This is almost painful, and I have had to break this a couple times because of Elizabeth's health crisis on Saturday, my need to get a couple numbers off of some profiles on my phone, and this blog post letting you know what’s up. It is also funny how my e-mail sends me Facebook updates and Facebook e-mails, so it’s like it will not leave me alone. I guess that means it is staying around a while.)

-  I also shut off the Push feature to my phone’s e-mail. I am now my e-mail’s master. I think that may stay longer than January.

• Schedule — I am taking certain days off over the next month, during which I will be alone and without normal distractions so I can focus on the Lord and hear his voice with clarity.
• Journal — I am keeping a daily journal of thoughts, prayers, observations, revelations, and dreams.

(This is a goal and has already had to change a little. Let me first tell you that I live by the Spirit of the Law and not the Letter, meaning that even though I may say I am not going to do this or that, I may do it if I feel I need to for a good reason. I also am taking Sundays as a celebration day, meaning I am free to enjoy with my family whatever seems beneficial. This season is about reducing noise in my life and resetting my out of balance rhythm. It is not about a list of does or don’ts.)

 

I am expecting God to break through my life in tremendous ways. I am expecting Him to change me. I was not expecting how hard these first few days have been. Nor was I expecting how the enemy would try and distract me. I shouldn't have been surprised. He met Jesus in the wilderness before his ministry began.

 

My prayer is that I hear his voice like Adam and Eve did in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden, or like Samuel did when God came to him in the night as a youth, or like the disciples did in the the Upper Room when the Holy Spirit came upon them with fresh power and boldness. My prayer is that I would have new strength and insight to lead the next five+ years with a freshness and sensitivity to the Lord.

 

What is the Lord drawing you to do? What’s your next step in your faith walk? It may not look much like mine, but that's OK. Start with where you are and go one more step.

 

I look forward to letting you know how it goes in a few weeks.

 

Live Your Potential!

 

Pastor Tory

Prioritize your life...

This Sunday I used the Story out of Luke 10 to challenge us to make God a priority in our life. Here are a few ways to do that.

• Gather regularly for worship... Sunday morning, Amplify and even gathering your family for times of worship or prayer focuses us on God.
• Retreat weekly for restoration... Jesus Got away from the crowds to a quite place often and I am challenging you to do the same. go for a walk, run, drive or a park and do nothing but connect with God in prayer or worship.
• Divert Daily in devotion... A regular rhythm of prayer and scripture reading will inspire you like nothing else. Check out my post on S.O.A.P.
• Remove Annually... fasting is a large part of spiritual maturity and breakthrough in Gods word. I am planning on talking about it this next year as we dive deeper into the secret of the sauce of living for Jesus. Look for things that you can remove from your life in order to simplify and focus on God. Things I have fasted before... Food, coffee, media, phone, txting/twitter, music, just to name a few examples. I say annually not because i think you should only fast once a year but because I think it is healthy to plan a larger more significant fast once a year just to build in the discipline. New years is a great season to do this.

Give thanks to the Lord...

I was S.O.A.P.ing this morning and read this in 1 Chronicles 16:7-34. David sets up a worship team to continuously praise god in front of the Arc of the covenant and this is how he taught the Levitt's to Worship the lord. I was challenged in my worship of the Lord. how much time I spend just worshiping, thanking, honoring, loving on God. I am practicing this today. Looking for every opportunity to just worship His goodness. Let your heart lift up Praise to the Lord today!

That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner:
Give praise to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Israel, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.

He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”
Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him.

Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”
Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
Let the trees of the forest sing, let them sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.