Chicago Youthcure PowerCast

How to know when it is time to fast?Click here to Download the 17 minute mp3 podcast When to Fast to be encouraged in the rewards of fasting!(3 snapshots on fasting:)(Jesus said when you fast... Which leads me to ask when should we fast?)1) Hannah pouring out her soul so much that she couldn't eat And she looked drunk.--> we should fast when we are desparate for a breakthrough!2).Daniel fasting in his old age seeking greater sporitual understanding. (if the guy hadn't experienced enough already with lions and hAnds writing on the wall... Amazingly he hungered for more of God and His word that he was willing to set aside all "choice" food.--> we should fast when we want physical hunger pains to shout we want God more!3) nehemiah breaking down when hearing his home country capital was in total devestation. He wept, he cried, he fasted!--> we should fast when the city is a mess!I am fasting for breakthroughs in th birth of location #15, for God to chisel me more, and for the far far northside of Chicago that has 600,000 people mostly on their way to hell:(

After many years of trying to get people to study the Bible, I have come to the realization that there is this misconception that studying the Bible is difficult. In this message I wanted to break down people's misconception that studying the Bible is difficult and present a simple strategy for Scripture journaling called S.O.A.P. S - Scripture Read and DateO - Observations (what you see in the passage)A - Apllications (what will you do with what you have learned)P - Prayer (Interact with God based on the truth, pray his Word, pray for help)The main point of the message is "Doing your devotions is as easy as using S.O.A.P."Download the message Bible Study for Dummies to GROW in you devotion to God's Word.

I John 4:19 says that "We love because he first loved us."Many struggle and lack the power to change because they are blinded to God's love. I have had friends turn on me. Parents fail me. Relationships disappoint me. Yet one thing is for sure. God loves me and His love for me will never fail. The crazy thing about it is... He loved me even when I hated him. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."In a few verses before this one, it says that we were actually enemies of God while we were sinners. God doesn't wait for us to get our act together before he loves us. No! He loves us and what's us to come to him as we are... broken in sin. Then His love will transform our lives and revolutionize us. The power of changed life is God's love demonstrated through his grace and mercy.The more your realize how Great his love for you is... the more you will want to love him back!Download the audio file Who Loved Who First? to hear a two minute devotional on experiencing God's Love.

The Power of a Changed Life. It all begins with God's Mercy.How many of us really want to change. But the struggle is too great. The power to change begins with God's Mercy. But so many miss out on God's mercy and never receive it. What is the key to receive God's mercy? REALIZE YOU ARE MESSED UP AND BEG FOR GOD'S MERCY!Here Jesus tells a story to some people who didn't think they were messed up (becuase they were confident of their own righteouseness). Luke 189 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."Download the audio file Key to Receive Mercy part 1 to hear a two minute devotional on receiving God's Mercy.