Student Invitation

Our visit to Washington, DC for the Awake East Coast conference was nothing short of spectacular.  Being around like-hearted believers stirs us to see even greater than we’ve seen before.  Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Being around wild believers who are passionate about seeing their college campuses transformed is fuel to the fire – spurring us toward love and good deeds.  Some believe these verses are meant to encourage us to have better behavior and stop being so rowdy.  When I reflect on the friendships I’ve had with believers who live to experience all God has called them to do and receive all that He has done, our conversations were dominated with testimonies, our lives flooded with miracles, and our time spent together was ministering to the sick and downtrodden.  Our very nature became supernatural because we constantly spurred one another towards love and good deeds. Good deeds/God's power without love are like a train without tracks.

During our time in DC, students from multiple campuses were planning what they could do to effectively see their campuses transformed. We were once students and experienced a movement on our campus.  We've worn a lot of hats.  So we asked ourselves, what do we love to do and how can we be an instrument of creative inspiration, reinforcement, encouragement, and sustainability with college students hungry for revival?  After much prayer and discussion, we arrived at the Mountaintop Experience.

It’s our desire to host students from college campuses around the nation and give them the opportunity to receive coaching, training and equipping in the beautiful environment of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Boone, NC.  We want to give students the opportunity to practice what they've learned and give them the experience they need to see God's power released on their campus.  You can't beat the setting and the family atmosphere.  If you are a college student, know a college student, or are about to become a college student, learn more, spread the word, and register to join us for one of the many weekends available.

We’ll see you on the mountain!

-Jonathan & Keeli Fawcett

Disciple or Convert

In 2006, I not only met my wife, but I met her father, Kermit.  Kermit, to this day, is one of the boldest men I have ever met.  He preaches straight up grace, heals the sick, casts out devils, prophecies what he hears the Lord speak, and is an outpouring of constant revelation.  Every week, Kermit calls me after ministering at a local prison.  Each time, I hear about men believing in Jesus Christ because of the power of the Holy Spirit.  Cancers are dissolving, Hepatitis is disappearing, broken bones are being restored and new hearts begin beating in these men’s chests.  I dare say that to see miracles in a church meeting, one has to be arrested!  Kermit has been steady, obedient, and ever increasing in his boldness to see lives transformed for God’s glory.  I wanted to do the same.  Here is my question: Are you a convert or a disciple?  When I met Kermit, I became a disciple.

A disciple does not idolize the person who teaches them.  They make themselves available to learn from someone who has experience.  Don’t subject yourself to being a disciple of someone who is depressed, inconsistent, double minded, or doesn’t read and believe the Word of God through the lens of New Covenant grace.

Sometimes, discipleship will leave you in moments of shock.  If your way of thinking doesn’t change for your betterment, then you may want someone else to teach you.  I remember when Kermit sat across the table from me and said, “I don’t ask forgiveness for sins.” My jaw probably hit the table.  I was in shock.  You may even be shouting at the computer screen, “Heresy!”

We have been conditioned to believe that forgiveness is obtained by confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness.  If this is true, then why did Jesus never mention it?  Why did Paul never mention it?  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What you may not have known is that I John 1 was written to a sect known as the Gnostics.  This was a group that infiltrated the early church and was corrupted by believing that Jesus did not come in the flesh and therefore did not believe there was a need to be forgiven of sins.  (To watch a great teaching on Gnosticism and how it continues to infiltrate the church, click here.)  When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He was praying an Old Covenant prayer.

At the cross, we were saved by grace.  We were forgiven when He was on that cross.  Asking for forgiveness does not accomplish something that was not already taken care of.  Our transgressions are separated from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) and our iniquities were thrown to the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).  Romans 6:11 (AMP) says, “Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.” As Romans 8:1 (AMP) states, “Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.”

The statement that Kermit made, as contrary as it is to mainstream American church teaching, actually aligns with the Word of God.  Praise God for people who can read God’s Word with understanding through the lens of grace without compromising the finished work of the cross!

My challenge to you: If you have not been personally discipled by someone who is seasoned and experienced in the glory of God (hint: just because a person has been ordained and has a theological degree (or as my friend calls it: being "hermaneutered”), does not qualify one as a believer or expert in moving in the power of the Spirit.  Get with someone who is intimate with Jesus, hears His voice, demonstrates His power on a regular basis, reveals Christ, dreams big, and lives victoriously in the glory, for His glory, operating from the glory.  For me, Kermit was and is that person.  He has been a coach who has been patient with me as I went through seasons of striving, shadow boxing warfare, and silly attempts of trying to accomplish something Jesus already did.  He stirs me with testimonies and encourages me to do the same.  He has never neglected to recognize the call of God on my life.  Because of his investment in me, I have fallen more in love with Jesus as I continually gain an understanding of what Christ has accomplished for the entire world.

Jonathan Fawcett

Bathroom Breakthrough: Puppets Can't Subdue Tyranny... You Can

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKyU17b4DbQ&w=640&h=360] There is a term that is used loosely and innocently by many in the church.  The intentions of this phrase is good but it slightly misrepresents the truth of who God is, who we are, and the state of the world.  In fact, most believers, at some point in their life are guilty of saying it at some point or another.  It is a phrase used to bring comfort and assists in the justification of why bad things happen.  However, one must understand that God's will is not everything that happens and everything that happens is not God's will.  The phrase I am referring to is: God is in control.

When God made Adam and Eve, He did not create puppets.  God is not a puppet on a string.  Therefore, He could not truly create anyone in His image if they were under control.  Instead, He gave dominion to mankind (Genesis 1:26-28).  Psalms 115:16 states that the heavens belong to the Lord but the earth He has given to man.  But we do not have control over the earth.  We simply have what Jesus gave: authority.

There is a major difference between authority and control.  If God is in control, why is there racism?  Why is there war or terror?  Why is there murder and rape?  Why is there human trafficking?  Why are there natural disasters wiping out entire cities?  Why is anybody sick?  God is either in control and mad, or we are co-heirs and seated in heavenly realms with Him operating in His authority, and He is madly in love with the entire world.

I Timothy 2:4 and II Peter 3:9 tell us that it is God's will that all be saved and come to the knowledge of salvation.  The entire world was chosen, elected, and predestined to be in Christ.  However, we know that many reject His love and the knowledge of His salvation.  It still does not remove their inclusion in the finished work of the cross or mean that they were chosen by God not to be saved.  It just means they simply choose to reject.

When we walk in the authority of Christ, sickness becomes extinct, solutions come easy, divine inspiration and creativity change nations for good, poverty becomes a thing of the past, the hungry are fed, the lonely are loved, and the orphans and widows are taken good care of.  Heaven on earth is a utopia.  We can know God's will when we look at Jesus.  We can see what isn't God's will when we look at the absence of His authority.  But now, there is no absence of authority for the believer whose goal is God's kingdom on earth.

Jonathan Fawcett

Bathroom Breakthrough: I Like Big Buts

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY3ZGckmtt8]That's right!  Big buts!  When millions stop short with I Corinthians 2:9, Paul was bold enough in verse 10 to say, "But God".  That is a very big but and utterly destroys every excuse for not understanding the mysteries of God.  Jesus has revealed the mysteries of the universe by His Holy Spirit.  The beauty in hearing God's voice is that it requires us to be teachable.  It took time for me to arrive to the realization that Christ already accomplished what I was trying to in my own efforts.  To quote two statuses from this past week's Facebook activity:

"Who is guilty of using the phrase "standing in the gap"? I'm raising my hand. NEWSFLASH: There is no gap! Jesus is closer to you than you are to you. Gap: closed. Old Covenant vernacular: over. When we remain teachable, the Good News continues to get better and better because we can look back on the silly things we once believed and be glad that Jesus didn't keep a secret. Only people can take the upfront truth of God's grace and twist it to require more of our effort. With that said, if we continue to believe in our striving, the only gap remaining is the one between our ears and the one where our teeth get knocked out by the self-inflicted beating that accompanies religion."

And...

"Repent of your constant repentance! Even though the platform of some ministries is to get people to repent, the question is- of what?! The word "repent" means to change your mind. When you received the mind of Christ, your days of crying out in repentance were over!"

In other words, because of your union with Christ, you now have the mind of Christ.  His thoughts have become your thoughts and His ways have become your ways.  The mind of Christ does not need to be changed.  We are continually being made in the image of God.  We already are!  Your moments of denial are just the nature of the old, dead, zombie - the person you once were who was co-crucified, co-buried, and c0-raised.  You deserved hell and death.  But God... He made you a new creature - one that can never be separated from Him.  That old, sick, crippled zombie stayed buried.  The new you was raised in perfect union with Christ.

Don't let repentance and ritualistic religion (no matter how charismatic it might seem) keep you from experiencing the freedom of the rest that accompanies His grace.

Jonathan Fawcett