Blogging break
For those of you who follow this blog, you know that the last few months have been a blast!
Highlights
- I’ve just recently moved this blog from http://mattlegere.wordpress.com to my very own domain at http://mattlegere.com
- I just broke 1,700 unique hits on the blog
- I just wrapped up a series called “Influenced to influence”
So what are my next steps? More writing? Another series? Nope. A break!
I’m enjoying the season that God has me in right now and I want to spend more time investing in my family. Blogs are great and sharing thoughts from the Lord with others is awesome, but not at the expense of my family. It may be a month or two, but don’t worry.
I’ll be back.
Note: The picture to the right surprisingly is not me. It’s Arnold. Just wanted to make sure that nobody got confused.
Influenced to Influence – Part 5
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
It’s time that you and I got our rightful place of authority back!
Satan’s seat
In Revelations 2:13, John told the Church of Pergamum that he knew that they were living in the city in which Satan’s throne was, but that they were loyal to Him.
In Ephesians 4:27, we also read that when we allow ourselves to be angry and not deal with it quickly within 24 hours and offence sets in, that Satan then gets a stronghold.
Through these and other examples, we actually allow Satan to get a foothold in our lives. Throughout history, enough of us have not lived up to God’s plan so Satan and his minions now are sitting in footholds/seats of influence over cities that they have no right to sit over.
Let me ask you this, have you ever been driving and someone cut you off? How did that make you feel? If you are like me, it gets me pretty fired up! I had a lane that I was driving in and, because you didn’t want to wait, you felt the need to cut in front of me as if you are better than me?!? (Wow, getting in my head on a morning commute can be “enlightening”, huh?) 
Here’s the sad truth. You and I are getting more upset about a 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme cutting us off as we drive, than we are seeing an enemy arrogantly sit in a seat of influence in our city while thumbing their nose at us and at God. There needs to be a righteous anger that rises in us that says, “Give me my seat back!”
In Genesis 21:22-34, Abraham had dug a well and one of Abimelech (King of the Philistines) had seized the wells. Upon agreeing this was wrong, the King of the Philistines made Abraham a covenant that this wouldn’t happen again. Therefore, the well was called Beersheba (the oath). Historically, when someone dug a well, they were claiming the land surrounding the well. When Abraham had dug the well of Beersheba, he was saying “this is my land my descendants land”
In Genesis 26:15, the Philistines had stopped up the wells that Abraham dug. What they were trying to do is hide any evidence that the land belonged to anyone else. Not only did they fill up the wells with dirt, but also dead animals. While Israel was sowing the land, he discovered His father’s well. In verse 18, he gave them back their names. Isaac came into the land, found what was his, and took ownership again. Isaac went on to dig 5 more wells in that region. He reclaimed the land.
There are wells of ownership in New England, in our state, in our city, and in the lives of those around us. Those wells were originally destined to be dug so that they could be influence by heaven and be possessed by God. The enemy has filled up those wells with death and covered them up so that we don’t even know that those wells ever existed.
I challenge you today to redig those wells. Redig the wells of influence that the enemy wishes we never realized were there in the first place. As we do that, we will be stamping on relationships, people, cities, and nations that God’s people are again in possession of the land. AND, we not only want to redig the wells that were forgotten, but we are going to move forward. Israel not only redig the wells that his (Father) had dug, but he also dug 5 more. We are going for the jugular!
I not only want to see the well redug that breaks depression’s hold on the land, but I want to see new wells dug out of protest. Enemy, you tried to hide the well of ownership over depression so now we want the well of ownership over cancer!
Gates in the Bible were places of influence. If you could get the gate open to a city, then you would have access to be able to step inside the city. Likewise, there are gates that need to be opened to us. Literally doors of influence that are currently shut but will be opening. While we want to be careful of the influence of things from our past on us, don’t be surprised when you end up having influence in areas you thought were shut off to you (i.e. He makes all things new)
We need to be able to move spirits and demons from things that they are sitting on – this will influence our region and the people in it drastically.
Isaiah 26:2 speaks of a declaration: “Open ye the gates (entrance, marketplace, palace, place of influence) that the righteous nation which keepeth (to have charge of, as a watchman, preserve, protect, retain, treasure up) truth may enter in.
Life Application
I hope that you have enjoyed this series on influence. To wrap things up here, I want to ask you to please seek God and ask Him to influence your life in a greater way. Open up the doors to places in your heart that you have held back and give Him control of your destiny. Next, begin to speak to the doors of influence in you, in relationships, in the culture around you, etc. and declare that they are now open to the influence of God! Speak to the walls that are holding you and others back from experiencing the influence of heaven! Rise up and throw down the things that are arrogantly sitting in your seat and cutting into your spiritual driving lane!
Be influenced by God so that you can influence others for the glory of God. Be influenced to influence.
Influenced to influence – Part 3
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
There are two things that I believe are very important in being influenced by God in a greater way:
1) The secret place with God
2) Trusting His ways and His thoughts
1. Secret place
Matt Legere: “The depth of our secret place determines the measure of your influence.”
You’re right. I did it. I shamelessly quoted myself above. Get over it.
Psalms 91:1 “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”
David wrote these words in Psalms 91 and, incidentally, it was because of what He did in secret that allowed him to be qualified to be in places of influence over the nation.
David spent a lot of time with just himself, the sheep, and God. From reading the Psalms, we find that we meditated on God, talked with Him, looked for His handiwork on the earth, sang to Him, sang songs of God’s greatness, etc.
In Psalms 78:70-72, we read that God chose David and took him from the sheepfolds. God alone gave David influence and pulled him from sheepfolds into a place of authority at the palace. David’s performance in handling small things (pregnant sheep/praising God with his harp in the field) when no one else was watching determined how and how quickly God could use him. David’s first experience with the palace was when Saul asked him to come and play the harp for him. However, Saul’s servant recommended David because that servant had heard of David playing the harp) This eventually opened up the door to David being King and reigning in the palace.
In the secret place with God, there is no striving and no earning or wrestling for your place. It’s communion with God. It’s peace, rest, and refreshing. You may feel tucked away or even forgotten. After all, no one sees you in the secret place with God to know how much you are praying. But David, who thought he was alone playing the harp, caught the attention of others.
Andrew Murray: “To be alone in secret with the Father should be your highest joy because to the man who withdraws himself from all the visible world and man and waits for God alone, the Father will reveal Himself”
God delights in using our encounters from the secret place with God to be what impacts people and nations.
When the demon couldn’t be cast out by the disciples, this kind comes not out but by prayer and fasting. I always thought it was because they didn’t do enough to earn it. However, prayer and fasting are things typically done in secret. Jesus, when he prayed and fasted, he would pull away from the crowd and pray. His fasting wasn’t on twitter/facebook.
There are things/demons we need to overthrow and, if we don’t build the wells and develop a secret place, we would have enough influence from Him and be influenced enough by Him to, in turn, influence what He wants us to influence.
2. His ways and His thoughts
Isaiah 55 (NLT)
If you get the chance, read the ENTIRE chapter! Isaiah 55 absolutely rocks! In these verses, The Lord is saying, “Why are you spending money and energy on things that aren’t going to satisfy you? Come to me with ears wide open and listen!
Just like David who I covenanted with, (in verse 5) “you also will command the nations, and they will come running to obey, because I, the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
Verse 8 - ”My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
Verse 9 -For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
He goes on to speak to the fact that his word is always productive and brings for fruit. The Lord says in verse 11-12: “It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. You will live in joy and peace”
Verse 13 is amazing!
13.Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the LORD’s name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love.
Instead of thorns, the cypress tree will come up. In Scripture, the cypress tree always refers to something noble and it was used in building the Temple.
Instead of briers, the myrtle tree will come up. If the myrtle grows on the bare hillsides it is a low bush, but, under favorable conditions of moisture, it attains a considerable height (compare Zec 1:8,10). It is mentioned as one of the choice plants of the land (Isa 41:19).
As you link up with God and follow His ways and thoughts, He begins to speak in your ear – words. Words that are powerful and will never return to Him void but fall as rain to the earth. You will go from being common and anonymous (thorn bushes, briers), to being noble (royal, joint-heirs), used in the process of experiencing and carrying the presence of God and something that is designed to flourish to new heights when moisture is present (aka “the Holy Spirit”)
Check back soon for Part 4 where we will talk about what to do with the doors of influence that God will be opening.
Influenced to influence – Part 2
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
God wants to be our PRIMARY source of influence. He wants to be our primary source of spiritual food, direction, affirmation..our SOURCE and our PORTION! Take a look at all of the things that the Bible says that He is our source of:
- Source of joy (Psalms 43:4 “…God, the source of all my joy”)
- Source of Israel’s life (Psalms 68:26)
- Source of refuge/shelter (Psalms 119:114)
- Source of hope (Psalms 119:114)
- Source of righteousness and strength (Isaiah 45:24)
- Source of peace (Micah 5:5)
- Source of every mercy (2 Corinthians 1:3)
- Source of eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9)
- Source of Spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:4)
What impacted me is that, if you look at this list, you will find that the items on this list are EXACTLY what is lacking in many aspects of our world and even in many churches (i.e. joy, life, peace, and Spiritual Gifts). Could it be that we have ANOTHER source? A source that is not satisfying us like He would?
John 7:37-38: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink…From his innermost being (womb) will flow rivers of living water”.
What I feel very strongly about is that we are trying to minister to people (“rivers flowing from us”) without having first taken a drink from our Source – Jesus Christ! However, both history and the Bible have awesome examples of how Christ’s influence is supposed to work.
1. May the dust of your Rabbi be upon you
In the time of Jesus, education was HUGE! Rabbi’s (teachers of the law) would train children as young as 5 years old in the ways of the law. At the age of 14, the best of the best took yet another step and approached a Rabbi about becoming His disciple. If after the Rabbi quizzed you and he felt you were good enough, He would say “Come, take my yoke upon you”. At that time, the boy would leave everything (home, mother, father, synogague, community, etc.) and devote His entire life to be like the Rabbi.
One of the quotes that was said of this arrangement in support of it was “May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi”. You see, Rabbi’s were passionate and animated. They would travel all over with their disciples and the posse would kick up a cloud of dust. Because the disciples were following the Rabbi, at the end of the day, they would actually be covered in the dust of their Rabbi.
That’s what God wants for us – that we would be covered with the dust of our Rabbi – Jesus Christ. To be so close to HIM and being taught and influenced by Him so much that we would be covered with “dust” from His feet.
2. Spirit of Christ dwelling in you / Roman Colonization
Another very telling example we find is in Romans 8:9. When God decided to communicate through Paul the way that He desires to dwell in us, He used an example of Roman colonization.
Romans 8:9 – But you are in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you…”
The word “dwell” in the Greek means ““to occupy a house”. Going deeper, the root of that Greek word refers to ““land, the subjects of the Roman Empire“. When the Spirit of God dwells in us, it’s for a far better purpose than to give us goosebumps. He wants possession of us. The Holy Ghost desires to dwell in us just like the Romans would occupy a land and have control of it’s inhabitants.
When the Romans would conquer a land, they would begin to colonize it. They permeated the culture, the language, the art, the traditions, everthing! – and made it Roman. Likewise, the Lord Jesus Christ desires to dwell in us and colonize our minds, our hearts, our motives until everything in us looks like, smells like, acts like, prays like, heals like, He did!
When the Holy Ghost dwells in us, it’s 
something that won’t just change us, it will change those around us and the generations to come! Britain was invaded by the Romans in 55 B.C. The city of London, England started as a Roman colony called Londinium. What was once a city colonized by the greatest empire the world has seen (Roman Empire) became the capital of the British empire. The British empire went on to be the largest empire in history and was heavily impacted by the Roman empire. The British Empire eventually was responsible for the colonization of what would eventually become the United States of America.
Through the simple colonization of one city by the Romans (Londinium), there is now a very strong country known as the United States of America. If you will allow God to colonize your heart, what spiritual things could be accomplished as a result of YOUR colonization?
If we allow the Holy Spirit to colonize our hearts and minds – we can be instrumental in continuing the e xpansion of His kingdom with His influence and culture being spread into new areas.
Check back soon for Part 3 of this series where we talk about 2 ways that I believe are key to being influenced by God in a greater way.
Influenced to influence – Part I
This was taken from my sermon notes that I used in preaching at Haven of Hope on Sunday, July 12th, 2009:
I believe that God is challenging us to allow Him to influence our lives in a greater way. Then, it’s His plan for us to use that influence from Heaven to influence other people, nations, and the enemy for the glory of God and His Kingdom.
What is influence? One definition I was able to find said:
Influence occurs when an individual’s thoughts or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing.
For example, have you ever been walking through the grocery store or the mall and by the time you walk out, you are humming or singing a song? At first you think, where did I hear this from? Then you realize that the song must have been playing in the store.
When I was typing this message together, I tried to think of one of the most annoying songs I had ever heard and “Umm Bop” by the Hanson brothers immediately came to my mind. I searching online for a Youtube clip to use during my sermon as an illustration. I decided against it (but still think it would have been hilarious). However, about 10 minutes later, while I was continuing to type out my notes, to my horror I caught myself singing “Umm bop..bop..bop..umm bop”!!!! I was mortified and thankful that the house was empty. I laughed, but it illustrated my point beautifully.
As another example, have you ever hung around someone and start to pick up their catch phrases or accents?
Andy Stanley once said it this way:
Who or what you listen to will ultimately determine what you do.
Whether we intend to or not, we are influenced by the people that we spend time with, the music that we listen to, how we steward our time, etc.
Check back soon for Part 2 of this series where we will talk about how God wants to be our primary source of influence.
Can’t hide your motives
In Matthew Chapter 22 and verses 15 through 22, we find that the Pharisees are up to their old tricks. They want to try to trap Jesus into saying something that will get him arrested by the Roman authorities. So they asked Him:
Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
In the New Living Translation (which is becoming my new favorite), it says that Jesus knew their evil motives. If you read Matthew 22:16, you will find that just prior to their question, they were trying to be MAJOR “teacher’s pets”. They said to Him:
Teacher, we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites.
But Jesus was able to look straight through all the “smoke & mirrors” and look right into their heart at their motives.
My challenge to you today is to be real. Be real to yourself, others, and your God. God is able to see straight through it all. By “be real”, I don’t mean that you know have license to be a pain in the butt just because you happen to be one. What I mean is to be AUTHENTIC. When you talk to God, throw out the King James speak (unless you really talk like that), and speak what is REALLY on your heart – He sees it anyways. When you talk to others, be transparent and be real. Check your motives.
It is impossible to paint God into a corner. When we pray something, He can look right down to the core root of why we are praying that way.
For example, if I were to hear you pray something like “God, I am asking for a sovereign move of your Spirit on the hearts of men and women.”, I might think “Wow, that sounds pretty cool”. But God could look into your heart and see that, what you are really saying is, “God, I am way to afraid to talk to anyone else about you. I just don’t see the point in sharing my faith with others. Please just step in and pour out your Spirit on everyone so that I don’t have to talk to them. That would make me feel better”. Ouch.
God is not nearly impressed with your words as He is impressed with what words are truly flowing from your heart (whether you are speaking them out loud or not).
Check your motives at the door and be real. Authenticity is one of the next levels God is taking His church.
Quote for 7/10/2009
Leonard Ravenhill:
No man is greater than his prayer life.
Harvard’s Christian Heritage
This article was written by Jay Rogers and is currently posted at the Boston Justice House of Prayer website:
The “flapjack turning” at Harvard is a metaphor for an emerging philosophy of humanism. In the 1600’s, Harvard was dedicated to the glory of God, but by the latter half of the 20th century, Harvard had become the citadel of humanism in the modern world. As Ruth Nourse correctly points out, this change did not happen overnight but was a slow transformation inperceptible to all but the most astute observors. This revolution, however, is completely visible in the changing of Harvard’s seals throughout the past centuries.
In Christi Gloriam (Glory in Christ) appeared on the college seal of 1650. Later, a coat of arms appears containing three books and the Latin motto Christo et Ecclesiae (Christ and the Church) inscribed around the border.
On an archway, above a gate leading into the
Harvard Yard, curious visitors may view this seal inscribed in stone. This earlier version of the coat of arms, however, contains one difference. If you look closely at the books in the coat of arms, you will see that the top 2 books are turned facing upward, while the bottom book is overturned. The upward facing books symbolize the truth that is discernible through our five senses: the overturned book symbolizes that which can only be known through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
By the mid 1800’s, the Harvard seal had fallen out of use. When Charles Elliot attained the Presidency of Harvard, he wished to reinstate the coat of arms as Harvard’s official school seal. This time, however, he made 2 changes. First, he added the Latin word VERITAS (Truth). Second, he turned all the books facing upwards, denoting the emerging philosophy of humanism.
Jay Rogers has a website called Forerunner and it can be found by clicking on the following link: http://forerunner.com/
What does God require?
Micah chapter 6 (NLT version) outlines a very interesting interaction between God and man. It’s the opening argument in an indictment against man by God Himself. Here’s what the Lord said:
Stand up and state your case against Me. Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints. And now, mountains, listen to the Lord’s complaint!… Oh my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of Me? Answer me!…I brought you out of Egypt (bondage) and redeemed you from slavery…I, the Lord, did everything I could to teach you about My faithfulness.
Wow! That kind of indictment would make the best lawyer from Law & Order seem like an infant.
In Micah 6 and verses 6 through 7, the people of Israel are trying to come up with something they can bring to the Lord. Yearling calves? thousands of rams? rivers of olive oil? sacrifice our first born son to pay for our sins? They were trying to identify physical things to satisfy God’s anger. However, God was more concerned with matters of the heart.
Micah 6:8 (NLT): No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
God wanted them to “do justly” (what is right), love mercy, and walk humbly in relationship with Him. I submit to you that we have warped that Godly order. Instead, some of us love judgement (instead of mercy), and we DO mercy instead of loving it. We aren’t walking with God, we are walking with traditions of men. We have twisted being humble to mean that we don’t want to appear too spiritual to others so we pretend we can’t hear God’s voice and we cast aside our desire to be like Him under the disguise of being “humble”. However, God wanted us to be humble AS WE WALKED WITH HIM, not so humble that we wouldn’t walk with Him.
Jesus Himself expressed his frustration with this approach when He rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23:
What sorrow awaits you teachers of religous law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law – justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
Sometimes we can place our emphasis on the wrong priorities and we find random obscure Scriptures to proof-text our pet beliefs. We’ve got to place the same emphasis on things that Jesus placed on things. I’m not advocating that we don’t tithe, but somewhere while the Pharisees were tithing on their income from their pet rocks and Chia Pets, they missed the priority of God: justice, mercy, and faith.
Micah had it right when He gave us what the Lord requires from us: do justly (what is right), love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
How do we respond to setbacks?
I can’t really think of many human beings out there that enjoy setbacks. I don’t. Personal setbacks normally mean that expectations were lowered, dreams crushed, or plans unraveled. It can mean embarrassment, frustration, confusion.
This past Sunday, we weren’t able to baptize people at the local hotel pool like we had originally planned because of an issue with the pool. The problem was that, after the baptisms on Sunday, I had told Connor that we would take him swimming. My son Connor, upon finding out that swimming was not in his Sunday plans, was very disappointed.
On the way home, I got an idea. I told Connor we’d go swimming at home! I got home, put on my swimming trunks, filled up the bathtub with tons of water and then Connor, Hunter, and I got to go “swimming” in the tub. The kids loved it! There was also something so spontaneous about it (which for those of you who know me, spontaneity isn’t one of my strong points). Then, after swimming, we made a blanket tent in the living room, turned the lights off, pulled out some glow sticks and ate popcorn and smores while reading stories as a family! It was awesome and the kids had a blast!
In reviewing the situation, Connor had experienced a setback. It wasn’t a job loss, an illness, or even a dream dying. But to him, at 3 years old, it qualified as an “official” setback. As Connor’s dad, I didn’t enjoy seeing him disappointed, so I did whatever was in power to turn this setback around into an amazing time of closeness as a family.
The life application here is that we have a heavenly Father that knows how to show us His love in more creative ways than earthly fathers can. God doesn’t enjoy seeing us suffer setbacks, even if He knows it was something that wouldn’t have been good for us anyways. Many times in the Bible we read how God has promised to always be there for us, especially in times of need and when we experience setbacks. Words like “I will never leave you or forsake you”, “God is a very present help in time of trouble”, and “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock” come to my mind. I know that there are others.
In times of setback, it is God’s desire, as our heavenly Father, to draw us close to Him so we can experience closeness/intimacy with Him. Just as I will always want to be there for my kids during their setbacks, God wants the same for us. I could totally picture Jesus, if He knew I was disappointed about not getting to go swimming, throwing on a pair of swimming trunks, finding a new location, and saying “Let’s go swimming together son!”.
Now picture yourself and any setbacks you have experienced. They hurt. You were surprised. Maybe it didn’t go how you planned. Picture Jesus. Picture Him wanting to wrap you in His arms as one of His kids. He WILL take care of you.
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Matt Legere
