Lord I need you

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

This was the first morning of our conference in Thailand with our missionaries from all over Asia. We started the morning  with worship and prayer. Worship and prayer time with a room full of missionaries that are living in some of the toughest spots in the world is quit incredible! You would think they have a direct line with the Father.

One of the songs we sung was “Lord I need you”. After sitting at dinner the night before and breakfast that morning with different couples listening to their hearts I couldn’t help but to have a heavy heart for them. They are facing situations of loneliness, feeling like there is no fruit from their years are hard ministry, and deal with the struggles of raising families in foreign cultures. Life is hard! Way tougher than anything I can find to complain about back home.

During this song I couldn’t help but cry and think that this is so much more than a song to them. It is a literal cry from the deepest place in their heart to God. These amazing men and woman know what it is like to depend on God fully. They declare their dependence every day they wake up in the country they are serving.

“Lord I need you, Oh I need you. Every hour I need you. My one defense, my righteousness, Oh how I need you. ”

Father, forgive me for not declaring my dependence on you but rather living as though I can do it with out you. Oh God how I need you today and in every single moment of this life. Thank you for being the one and only one that is dependable. May my life be in your hands, or may I not forget that my life is completely in your capable and loving hands. 

The Son of God went unnoticed

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

I was asked to lead our prayer time this week at UWM. With it being during Advent what better than to do a devotional from Billy Graham’ Advent devotional, Hope for Each Day; Morning and Evening Devotions.

The First Christmas Morning

So [the shepherds] hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. — Luke 2:16images

It would have been logical to expect God to tear open the Heavens and descend to Earth in majesty and power on that first Christmas night — but He didn’t. Instead, on that quiet night in Bethlehem, a virgin mother lay her newborn Baby in a manger designed to feed cattle. The lowing cows, the sweet-smelling hay, and the dark sky illumined by a magnificent star provided the setting. Humble shepherds joined the carpenter husband to witness the miracle and praise God.

The most significant drama of the centuries was unfolding — the drama of salvation that would ultimately take this Child to the cross.

Truly, God works in mysterious ways. The wheels of His mercy and justice move quietly, but they do move. The birth of Jesus Christ — the Son of God, our Savior — went unnoticed by the vast majority of the world that first Christmas night, but no event in human history was more significant. May His birth — and all it means — not go unnoticed in our lives!

Remembering that first Christmas I can’t help but to think how God is at work today in my life in BIG and small ways. His finger prints are all over me and His best is just waiting on me to take hold of it today. This reminds me of something a good friend of mine, the incredibly talented Chris Kincaid (If you are needing a new Christmas album you will want to get this one And Winter) said, “Father gives us enough faith to see your grace in our lives”. Look for Him to day, He is ready to blow you away with His goodness! Our God is a father that stands ready to give, love, bless, rescue, heal, and care for you like no one could ever do for us. He is just waiting on you.

Take a deep breath this Christmas season, slow down, and fix your eyes on the Father.

 

Celebrating getting dunked!

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

Just a couple Sunday nights ago we had the chance to celebrate Greyson putting his faith in Jesus! Last year on Thanksgiving night Grey and his cousin were talking about God and through a simple conversation his cousin lead him in a prayer. After conversations with Nana (my mom) and with us he definitely understands his need for Jesus!

Fast forward to a year later we had a special event at Ridge Church called Family Birthday Celebration. A huge celebrations it is!!! Family Birthday Celebration is a special service where we celebrate through baptism the decisions children have made to put their trust in Jesus as their personal Savior. Family, friends, and small group leaders all join together to help celebrate this decision in a big way!

I will let you see it for your self.

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Grey Rouse – Family Birthday Celebration from Ridge Church on Vimeo.

Does God care about that?

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

house_for_sale__500_01Yesterday after church Mac, Grey, and I were riding around looking at a neighborhood we might would want to live in. This may seem odd for some people but this is totally normal for the Rouse House. We think it is fun to look at houses for sale and dream about what it would be like to live there.

Yesterday when we were riding around I asked the boys, “do you think that God cares where we live?” Immediately that both said no. Which honestly, was good for me to hear because I think that it is a sign that things like a house just aren’t that important to them. But Mac spoke up and said, “well, maybe. I think that God could put us in a specific house, in a specific neighborhood where people don’t know Jesus.” Grey quickly agreed, like he normally does when Mac speaks up.

My heart filled with excitement that this dream of missional living…being intentional with daily relationships and opportunities God puts in our way…is starting to grow inside these boys. I believe with all of my heart that if we, Christ followers, all made a conscious effort to think this way it could radically change a neighborhood, community, city, and the world!

For the Rouse House, we do pray often and ask God for a new home. To be clear it isn’t all super spiritual. We have some selfish request in what our house looks like, the size of the house, the schools our kids will attend, even down to we want the kitchen sink to face the living area not the window into the back yard. Please don’t judge. But we know that when God opens that door and gives us an opportunity to move into another home it is a grand opportunity to love and impact those he places around us. We can play a role in Jesus’ plan for rescuing those he loves!

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

 

John 17:18

You May Be the Only Jesus Some People Ever See by Richard & Reneé Stearns, from He Walks Among Us
Meet Richard Stearns 

The Hands and Feet of Christ

“As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” — Jesus in John 17:18
As followers of Christ, we bear the responsibility of demonstrating to the world what Jesus might look like were He to walk the earth today. Those who will never enter the door of a church or read a Bible or hear a sermon can still know Jesus by watching us! I’m not sure I always give others the right impression, but I met someone who does.
Tseghe, a fourteen-year-old Ethiopian girl, was abducted by a stranger as she walked to school.
Because the man lacked money to pay the bride price, he simply stole Tseghe from the side of the road, intending to make her his wife. He took her shoes so she couldn’t run and marched her miles from her home to a shack where he bound and assaulted her.
Although everyone in the village heard what had happened, no one came to her aid. “She’s damaged goods,” they said. “Leave well enough alone. That’s just the way things are. If you can’t afford a bride, you just take one.”
But Tseghe’s grandmother was determined to find her, and she recruited Esatu, a World Vision staff member, to help. When Esatu first went to the police, they refused to act. But he persisted, and over the course of the next several days, Tseghe was found and returned home.
I asked the older woman what Esatu’s efforts had meant to her. “It would have been enough,” she said, “if he had just come alongside me and been my friend, but he did so much more.”
In that instant, my mind flashed to another desert in another country and a stable in a town called Bethlehem. Looking at the Creator of the universe lying helpless in a manger, some might say it would have been enough had Jesus simply come alongside us to be our Friend. But of course, that wasn’t enough at all, because more than a friend to walk beside us, more than an example to follow, what we really needed was a Savior.
Esatu had already done plenty. He’d worked hard to provide for the needs of the community, and rescuing Tseghe wasn’t his responsibility. But that thought never crossed his mind.
When Esatu came to the aid of a young girl and her desperate grandmother, he was just doing what Jesus would have done if He had been there on that terrible day.
And in a way, Jesus was. Esatu’s hands were Jesus’ hands; Esatu’s heart was Jesus’ heart. When wicked men sought to steal away a young girl’s dignity and hope for the future, Jesus came to Tseghe’s rescue in the person of a man named Esatu.
Is there someone you know who needs Jesus, someone to whom you can demonstrate through your friendship, your encouragement, your wise counsel, the love of the Savior? Look at the people around you. You just might be the only Jesus they will ever see.

Excerpted with permission from He Walks Among Us by Richard and Reneé Stearns, copyright Thomas Nelson.

To know more about the Rouse House and the ministry we are apart of please sign up for our monthly newsletter by emailing spankyr@go28.org. 
Please consider joining our financial support team? You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11084 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see United World Mission. Thank you to our present supporters that allow us to impact the many lives across the planet.
Again, THANKS! We are looking for 10 new partners about to give $50 to $100 per month. Our Goal is $600 a month or $7,000 annually. THANK YOU for investing in this Kingdom work!

what and who

Posted on by Spanky Rouse
I origianly labeled this blog…Successful Life…but then began going through my thoughts and felt it needed a more simple approach. I may not have made my ideas and words as clear and simple as the title but hopefully you can see my heart.

Many of us are trying or have spent much of our lives trying to figure out – what is my purpose, what was I created to do, or how can I make an impact?  In the church world we say, “What is my calling” as if God picked up His phone and dialed us up. We all do this, right! In high school it is all about where I am going to college, so that I can get the best degree, so that I can have this most profitable career, so that I can achieve this goal or that. I think this kind of thinking leads us to spend most of our lives looking at the “what”.

So what if the “what” is not the right question we should be asking. Is there some other goal that we should have our focus fixed on. What if there is a more important question we should be asking. A question that if answered, just might help with figuring out the “what”‘s we are so bent to answer.

One of my best friends and person of wisdom in my life, Jake Greer, and I use to have this time called broffee. It is where brothers meet for coffee and talk about life and God. I say use to because life has become so busy that it had to fall off the radar for a season. That seson better be over because broffee time is something that we all need if we realize it or not. It keeps us going in life and helps us in seeing God as he truly is when are blinded by the days around us.

About a year ago at broffee time we were talking about this question of “what are we called to or to do”.  We realized through the conversation that maybe we were focusing on the wrong question. Don’t get me wrong, the “whats” in my life are good things more than not. They are possibly all God things in our life but maybe they shouldn’t be first question we try to answer correctly. The question I believe to hold even more importance isn’t a “what” kind of question it is a “who”. See “what” refers to something I can do or chase after with my life. “Who” is the modeling, shaping, and filling of God in my life. These other questions in life are pointless and can distract me to a point of missing it all together if I am not becoming “who” he has created me to be. Jake and I decided that morning that we have to allow God to make us “who” he wants, called, and created us to be before he can use us to do the “whats” we are so passionate about.

WHO?

Who does God want me to be? You could even say He has called, like supernatural purpose in life called us all to be someone specific. I believe that we just might get to those “whats” in life quicker and easier if we simply answer the, “Who does God want me to be?”. When our focus is off of our world around us He can do great things through and with us.

1. Who has God called me to be?
We are all going to become someone but who?
2. Then and only then, what has God called me to do with my life?
Gods waiting to give or show me the “whats” in life but he is waiting on me to accomplish the first questions.

What’s up next

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

God is continuing to lead us in exciting directions and showing us his power. Big things are on the horizon! A new season of ministry begins tomorrow.

Earlier this year Lara and I were talking about life and missions. We have been blessed over the 3 plus years to be apart of a God size movement here at Ridge Church in Matthews, NC and we wouldn’t trade it for anything! We have seen God use us to build this ministry outreach called Intersect, which serves a local low-income school and neighborhood called Piney Grove. Unbelievable stories of impact and life change have come out of this project. We have also been able to help facilitate many community groups and other small groups where participates have gained monumental relationships and a deeper understanding about a relationship with God. We have been able to walk with many couples and individuals through counseling, critical circumstances in life, helped through crucial times of discipleship, connected others with in the body of Christ, and loved on hundreds during our 3 plus years on staff here at Ridge Church.

Earlier this summer I began looking for ways Ridge Church, as well as the Rouse House, could serve in missions internationally. Being missionaries at heart we have been feeling the itching to travel and see how God can use us even more. In the early part of July I meet with a mission organization that is based out of Charlotte to talk about opportunities for Ridge Church. At the end of the meeting I was offered a job! Little did I know at this time it would be what I think could be a dream job for me. I couldn’t write the job description any better my self.  Not really in the pursuit of a new job or ministry I took things slow and waited on God to show me what his clear plan was for my family and me. Day after day it seemed that he was moving us in this new direction which is back into full time missions. Worried that I wouldn’t be able to play a role in leadership at Ridge Church or this ministry to Piney Grove I told this organization I would only consider the job if they would allow me to continue some of my ministry at church too. There response was wonderful, “that’s what we would expect you to do. Of course you should keep doing that too.” This is just another one of those moments I call “finger prints of God”. There has be many of them during this process of decreeing if this is the right direction.

After 7 weeks of prayer, asking others for wisdom, conversations with my family, and interviews I accepted the position with United World Mission as a Mobilizer/Coach. My primary role will be to help those who feel that call on their life to missions. I get the privilege of helping individuals and families figure out what exactly God is leading them to do, how, when, and where in the world He wants to use them. I will also work with local churches on the east coast with their international missions needs and with a wide variety of projects worldwide that delight our God. The Rouse House will remain based out of Charlotte and serving in a much smaller way but still making a huge impact through Ridge Church. We are SO excited to see how God has put together these plans and that he still has much for the Rouse House to do!

Tomorrow I start my new adventure in God’s story and he will continue to write a story of faith in me. Lord let us have a faith and love that will change the world!

Colssians 1:4-5

4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

Please consider joining our financial support team? You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11084 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see United World Mission. Thank you to our present supporters that allow us to impact the many lives across the planet.

Again, THANKS! We are looking for 10 new partners about to give $50 to $100 per month. Our Goal is $600 a month or $7,000 annually. THANK YOU for investing in this Kingdom work!

respond to God’s giving

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

My dad has started sending out a short daily devo for his company and the Monday devotion got me thinking, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first His kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Mondays always seem to be so busy as we gear up for the new week ahead. There are list to be made, task to accomplish and goals to be met. We set off to meet the challenges of the new week with hopes of finishing well.
Part of the start to that week should always be to prepare the order by which we view things for the week and the very first thing on that list should always be to “Seek first His kingdom”. God has promised that if we seek Him first and keep our eyes upon Him that he will take care of the rest. We can never out-think, out-plan or otherwise get ahead of God who already knows us and our ways and has a plan, His plan, already in motion.

“…His plan, already in motion.” If we keep that thought in mind how much less stress would we (I) live with.
The Message puts it this way,

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied withgetting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:30-33

How preoccupied are you? Probably so much so that we miss out on responding to God’s “giving”. Look to Him and you’ll be taken care of, all of you.

Aren’t we all busy?

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

Sometimes I find myself eating, praying, and emailing in my car just so I can save time going from one place to another. Isn’t it normal to be this busy and more? It’s ok if it’s good stuff like ministry, right? I sat with a good friend, Patrick Mitchell, yesterday and we happened to be talking about this very thing, the “busyness of life”. The funny thing is that we try to get together more often than we do but we are so busy doing great things that it doesn’t happens that often.

“Busyness keeps us task focused and task will always be more urgent than people. But if we are going to stay on mission, people must always be more important than task.” – Joel Thomas, Lead Pastor of North Point Community Church

I happen to read Patrick’s blog that he wrote yesterday too. I feel like it explains how we should truly be living not what it so many times the true reality. Enjoy Patrick’sblog, Renown, and enjoy this life don’t just live it!

I don’t even know her name…

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Catalyst conference. This is a life changing experience for everyone who attends, so go! God spoke, God moved, God revealed, and I am left wondering how am I going to respond to it all. I will definitely write a couple other blogs on all of the things I feel He revealed and spoke to me about but for today I want to just begin sharing a new passion that is burdening my heart to a level that scares me to death.

Sexual abuse and trafficking. This horrible act on humans especially little girls and young woman is the second largest money making industry in our world today. I can hardly hold it together when I think about this while I just sit here. I simply googled it and found pages of statistics and I hope that these don’t sit well with you but overwhelm you to a point of action.

  • 2.5 million people world wide are enslaved at this very moment
  • 1.2 million of these victims are children, usually girls ages 7-19
  • 95% of these victims are physically abused regularly
  • Estimated global profits from human trafficking is $31.6 billion annually
  • In the US there is over 100,000 sex slaves, most of these are children
  • The average age of a person that is victimized by sex trafficking is 9 years old
  • In Charlotte, NC as of today 15 people have been identified as victims of sexually trafficking and 8 of them were children.
  • the average life span after entering sex trafficking is only 7 years
I had no idea…this is a BIG deal! Little girls all over this world and right here in my city are facing this nightmare day after day and night after night. What are we going to do about it? THIS CAN”T GO ON! “Is there a little girl out there right now praying for me to come rescue her?” is what keeps running through my head and pounding on my heart.
Just now thinking about her, them, tears are puddling on the keyboard of my computer. I don’t even know her name, there names, but I know God has created me to rescue, love, and be apart of His redemption in their lives. Now learning about this how could I go on with my life and not stand up and do something. What? I don’t know but I have to keep trying to figure out what I can and should do.
James 2:14-26, Unless your faith is accompanied with works it is fake, dead, nothing. So what are you, me, going to do to be Christ to those who are needy, poor, hopeless, homeless, helpless, thirsty, and praying for a miracle…praying for YOU to come be their miracle.