STRENGTHEN THE CONNECTION

November 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

As I was heading into church on Sunday, the Lord was speaking to me about effectiveness.

Here is what I am sensing in my spirit about effectiveness in the journey ahead:

Effectiveness will flow out of the strength of our connection to God in the days ahead. All of our natural ability, talent and giftedness will not be enough to meet the crises of the coming days. The mission God has for us will require His supernatural power and glory and that can only come through the health of our personal and community’s relationship with Him.

Salvation itself only requires the beginning of a connection with God through Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

This is entry level faith. But kingdom effectiveness will be determined by the strength of our connection to God.

If we focus on our programs and methodology, our talents and our human abilities all we will accomplish is a striving after wind and burnout. We will never accomplish God’s great plan for our personal lives, our family lives, our church or community.

If we focus on the strength of our relationship with God, though, then all of God’s plans will flow through that relationship into our programs, plans, talents and abilities and then out through those supernaturally empowered conduits to accomplish His divine purpose.

WHERE WE PUT OUR FOCUS IS UP TO US.

SABBATICAL’S END: FOUR BODY THINGS

November 2, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Sabbatical 2024 is over. I went back in to the office yesterday and began setting in motion some of things that are to begin in 2025 and 2026.

I learned many things during this sabbatical. Many of them were for me and my own personal spiritual growth, but here are four things I learned for the body of Christ.

ETERNAL DEFINITIONS: Our church needs to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. We need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. We need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.

CORPORATE SELF-REVELATION: The church needs to have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.

THE NEED TO SEE: We need to see what is coming down the road. It feels like threads are coming together and we are beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. We need to understand our own small part of the stream, much depends on it.

A SEASON OF DELIVERANCE: from OCT. 8….. “The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”…

From Oct. 28…….”The days ahead are days of supernatural deliverance! The power of the Spirit is going to begin flowing and moving in even more miraculous ways. Generational and ancient strongholds are about to be overthrown, but the ground is going to be hard won. Only the power of the Spirit will avail, no mortal weapons will do in these battles. Yet I counsel you do not look for the dramatic , bombastic, instantaneous deliverances that have characterized the places of so many flashy dreams. Look for the move of small stones. Let there be an embracing of steps that bring compounding glory and progressive deliverance. Expect and do not despise the day of small things. Rejoice in each advance and encourage each other in every setback. Pray the power over each other continually and without ceasing and walk in the Spirit until all that is to be done is done! INch by inch the ground will be won. Do not be afraid!The center will hold until I call you forth.”

I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE HOW THESE THINGS ARE TO BE BROUGHT ABOUT IN OUR CHURCH.

SABBATICAL DAY 15: THIS SABBATICAL’S MENTORS

October 15, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Yesterday was a day of relationship. I talked with my sister in The Netherlands for about an hour and a half. We talked about the calling and how it moves and shifts in our lives creating a never-ending journey that we sometimes flow with and other times struggle with.

Then I went to breakfast with my son-in-law James Franklin, who has helped me out during this sabbatical by preaching for me.

We talked about the word of prophecy for our church Cornerstone.

After that, My son and I took a walk around the greater block of the Vicarage. I told him the history I knew of the schools in town: Old Murdock, Streeter, Poland, Wheeler. As we walked I talked to him about the people I knew in each house: Jack Bowler, the Sweeney’s, the Knocks, The Blacks, Mr. Otto. We noted the dates on many of the historic homes: 1840, 1791. How different was life back then? How different from my life was the life of Capt. Murdock or Morton Converse?

I said before that I had trouble finding mentors to speak into my life for this sabbatical. Maybe I didn’t have trouble. Perhaps I was resisted by God because He had already chosen those individuals who would speak into my life and they were much closer to home than I was willing to look.

The conversations I am having are much more organic than traditional mentorship conversations, but perhaps this time around they are the more resonant for their organic nature. In these conversations I am hearing the echoes of my deepest thoughts, even some of those hidden from me by myself. There are things being called to the surface I was unaware of.

Things like: I am an escapist at heart always trying to distract myself with petty entertainments when questions of legacy and leadership arise; I procrastinate because I have been infected by the spirit of lack that is epidemic in our land; The call is not convenient and it is not comfortable, but it is good for me in my truest self; There is a price to pay for a deeper walk with God and I need to pay that price.

I entered this season a little disappointed, maybe even a little concerned, because I had not been able to find my mentor(s). I know now that God is the One who always had charge of the arrangements for this season and He has chosen His best for me.

HAS GOD EVER SURPRISED YOU WITH A BETTER BEST THAN WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS BEST?

SABBATICAL DAY 2: WE NEED TO KNOW

October 2, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

My son and I were talking about this sabbatical our church is on. I explained to him that sabbatical is not a vacation for the pastor or the church. It is a change of rhythm for the purpose of finding God’s direction and strength for next steps. The change of rhythm does involve rest, but it also involves other practices as well.

Today was all about the practice of flexibility. I set my plans to pray for at least two hours at the Worship Room House of Prayer this morning. I made it forty minutes and then… God showed up and I ended up taking a trip with my daughter to a town about an hour and a half away to pick up some equipment that had been wrongly shipped to another Cornerstone Church.

I was going to go by myself, but you know I am learning to be the DOING LIFE TOGETHER guy. It was good we went together, as it turned out. My leg has been bothering me the last few days and it cramped up pretty badly just as we were arriving at the other Cornerstone Church. Amanda had to drive home so I could stretch out.

Anyway, we made a morning of it. The drive was through some of the most beautiful autumn territory of the Quabbin Valley and we stopped for lunch at Herrick’s in Orange. So I actually accomplished one of my other goals for this month which was to take a leaf peeping drive.

There were a few other “divine interruptions” in my plans today. Some unplanned reorganization of schedules shortened my time to burn brush by about an hour and once again reoriented how I was going to pray. I think learning to be flexible with my prayer life is something God is trying to teach me.

In the midst of all the reorganization I got this thought. “As a people we need to know God’s plan for the next years. We do need a clearer vision of the future. We do need to understand what God is doing. That said, we don’t just need to know God’s plan or the future or what God is doing. We need something more. We need the church to also have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.

TELL ME WHO OR WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH IS?

SABBATICAL EVE

September 30, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I begin a month long sabbatical tomorrow. Yesterday was my last day in pulpit for five Sundays. I preached from Revelation 22 about THE INVITATION TO THE FUTURE.

YOU CAN WATCH IT HERE.

It was also a day of celebration. It was our church’s annual Crockpot Cookoff.

It was a great way to launch into this sabbatical. 130 people came out to try 17 different crockpot dishes. The prize went to BAGEND BEAM, one of the Sunday afternoon groups. All the crockpots were excellent.

And the community sharing life together was awesome!

This is my second sabbatical and it is shaping up to be very different from my last sabbatical. This month is a month of conferences. All this week I will be spending time in prayer at The Worship Room House of prayer as they hold their third annual growth conference. On Friday I will be heading out to Liberty Church in Shrewsbury MA for a leadership conference. Saturday I will be back at Cornerstone for our annual men’s conference. Next Wednesday I will be in Sturbridge MA for our network leadership tour. There is a prophetic conference in Springfield MA on October 17-20. I am still toying with the idea of going to that. Then at the end of the month I will be going to our fellowship’s Minister’s retreat in Plymouth MA.

Sabbatical is a time of rest, prayer and visioning for ministers. For me it is a time to find the next steps for our church and the prophetic message God would have me share in sermon form for the next few years.

I have asked all of our groups to pray for a word from God for 2025 and 2026. When I come back I will go to each group and listen to what God has told our church body about next steps.

I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS NEXT MONTH. I FEEL A STIRRING IN MY HEART TOWARDS ADVENTURE.

PIANO PRAYERS, MISSIONARY, JACOB’S FIRE AND AMANDA’S CUPS

September 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

The tide of ministry has been high this week. Sunday I preached my 50th message in our series on Revelation. Truthfully it is probably more like the 60th or 70th sermon in the series, but it is entitled “Jesus Doing Life Pt. 2 Pt. 50.”

We were stuck in chapters 2,3 and 4 for quite a while and I was using decimal points (2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and so on) for that particular point in the series. It has been a wonderful study and I am looking forward to its conclusion on Sept. 29th (which it just hit me would have been my mother’s 88th birthday).

HERE IS THE SERVICE FROM SUNDAY.

Sunday preaching always leaves me ready for a nap. This series has left me feeling particularly drained. Maybe it’s just the content but I am finding I need to rest deeply on Sunday afternoon, and it is good to have a lot of time to pray on Mondays.

This week I did get several hours to pray on Monday morning and then Monday evening I led worship from 5-6 at THE WORSHIP ROOM HOUSE OF PRAYER and prayed in the prayer room from 6-7 P.M.

HERE IS THAT SERIES OF PRAYER SERVICES.

Tuesday is always one of the busiest days of my week. Staff meeting led into a missions lunch with one of our missionary friends from a sensitive country. Amanda came down with the stomach flu which is running through our kids ministry, so I took youth group for her on Tuesday night.

This is the “GET WELL” bouquet one of her teens made for her.

Youth night this week was easy. It was the fall opening for youth ministry, girls ministry and Royal Rangers Ministry to boys. One of Amanda’s teen-agers had a vision. for having a bonfire to start the season off. Together, Jacob and a few other folks from the church cleaned out and prepared the fire pit at the back of the church property.

One of our youth leaders, Troy, helped Jacob get the fire up and running while the other kids opened with business and games.

Then everyone came out to the fire and made stores while another one of Amanda’s youth led in worship.

Wednesday. I worked at home to catch up on prayer and Vicarage projects.

Then on Thursday, I joined Amanda’s DLT group (she was fully recovered from the stomach bug by that point) to start getting ready for our upcoming Church Crockpot cook off. Amanda’s group is sponsoring the event and so we had to label 1100 sample cups for the cook off

Today. I am getting ready for oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth. So…yeah… it’s been a fun and active week. Which is my excuse for not writing as much here at Notes.

I have smiled a lot this week and made a lot of fun memories.

WHAT MEMEORY DID YOU BUILD THIS WEEK?

PREPARE YOUR LOVE PT. 3

August 1, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

For some reason I have forgotten to post this last devotional thought own preparation. I thought about just skipping it all together but God keeps bringing it back to mind. By way of explanation… our church has been given a direction that we are to fast and pray that we would be prepared. We have also been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

Here is the 21st devotional thought in the series on preparation.

DAY 21- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).

WELL THIS IS IT! 21 devotionals have now come and gone and we are at the end of our talking about preparing. But we are at the very beginning of the actual acts of preparation God will require of us. I hope you gleaned something from these brief comments over the last 21 days.

As we launch out into what comes next here are some thoughts from our study in the Book of Revelation.

⁸I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name Rev. 3:8

Remember we don’t need to create doors. We don’t need to kick down locked doors, either. God is going to open the doors for us. We just need to prepare our hearts to walk through them when He does.

LORD PREPARE US FOR WHAT LIES AHEAD!

THE BATTLE SINCE JANUARY

July 21, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Life has really changed this year. In January my mother went into hospice.

My sister came home to walk with the rest of us through the process.

In February we almost lost mom to some kind of violent attack that left her completely bed ridden.

In April Mom passed.The week my mother died our last uncle had a heart attack and since has been dealing with very delicate health.

At the beginning of May one of my daughters was diagnosed with cancer. My other daughter was struggling with gall bladder disease.

In June my daughter had surgery to remove the tumors.

In July my other daughter had emergency surgery to remove her gall bladder and the family cat, our little flerkin, died all in the same weekend.

Also in July my sister took several financial hits due to tax changes because of her Dutch immigration status.

In the church Since January we have faced many very serious situations: severe illness, severe money issues, accidents and spiritual falling away. It has felt like a war of attrition. It feels like we are the besieged army sitting inside the castle walls and the enemy is trying to starve us out.

I realize that this is the exact opposite of how it really is. This feeling of being hemmed in and harried is not how the Scripture depicts the position of the church. We are not the besieged army at all. We are meant to be the attacking army…

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock^[a] I will build my church, and the gates of hell^[b] shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed^[c] in heaven.” Matthew 16:17-19

I have to admit, all these attacks on our family life have left me feeling a little destabilized. It is time to fix that. So I have reached out to my spiritual presbyter ( a spiritual director if you will) and I am getting ready to take the fight to the enemy.

I realize this is not a time for shrinking back. It is a time for pressing in. But the battle must be fought with spiritual weapons. Prayer, faith and The Word of God are how we are to fight. It is time to overcome!

PREPARE YOUR LOVE PT. 2

June 17, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This year our church has been given a congregational sentence that comes through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

seven prepare statements will be broken down into three brief devotionals a piece to give us 21 devotionals to share over 21 weeks.

TODAY IS DAY 20- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48

We are being called to prepare to love those who disagree with us. I will be the first to point out that just because a person disagrees with us on something, that does not necessarily make them our enemy. But in our hyper-tribalized society, we are quickly becoming a people who view it that way. In fact we are raising up a generation that thinks that in order to love someone you must agree with and accept everything they think. That, of course is not the truth. Love is something that flows through agreement or disagreement equally well, because it is not based in our comfort, logic, emotion, or will. It moves through those things but it is based in and flows from the Spirit.

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO LOVE THROUGH A DISAGREEMENT WITH RIGHT NOW? PRAY FOR THEM? WHAT GROUP DO YOU HAVE THE GREATEST DISAGREEMENT WITH RIGHT NOW? PRAY FOR THEM.

PREPARE YOUR LOVE PT. 1

June 10, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This year our church has been given direction, from the Lord, through the many prophetic words which have been spoken to us over the last year or so. Our leadership has boiled this direction down into a congregational sentence. That sentence says: “Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Prepare you Spirit (come out of the decay of your strongholds). Prepare your Souls(Prepare to practice and feel compassion). Prepare your facility (your structures, infrastructures and plans). Prepare for the storm (Pray for action plan, Pray for a spirit of perseverance). Prepare your witness (know your gifts, earn the right to speak, build your relationships with those outside the church, build your example). Prepare your hope and faith (think hope, speak hope, act in hope). Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open).“

I am breaking down these seven prepare statements into twenty one brief devotionals. This post is devotional number 19.

DAY 19- Prepare your love (love each other, love the people in your towns, love those who disagree with you, love through the doors that open.

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

I have used this Scripture before, but it bears repeating, “

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not ^[b]puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, ^[c]thinks no evil; ⁶does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:4-8

HOW ARE YOU DOING WITH LOVING THE PEOPLE IN YOUR DLT GROUP? HOW ARE YOU DOING LOVING PEOPLE IN YOUR TOWN WHO ARE NOT PART OF THE CHURCH?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

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