Rslvd.

The practicality of the book of Job

2010-02-23T09:13:00.003-10:00

Ray Ortlund has a great post that reminds me not to fall into the temptation of firstly reading Job as a philosophical treatise on suffering but rather as a reminder of how to personally suffer well. Namely, trust in the Lord, not in explanations of His ways.

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"...I don’t think the book of Job is about suffering as a theoretical problem — why do the righteous suffer? I think it’s about suffering as a practical problem — when (not if) the righteous suffer, what does God expect of them? And what he expects is trust. When the righteous cannot connect the realities of their experience with the truths of God, then God is calling them to trust him that there is more to it than they can see. As with Job, there is a battle being fought in the heavenlies.

Trust in God, not explanations from God, is the pathway through suffering."

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read the whole thing here.

Tri-perspectival Leadership

2009-12-07T23:17:00.005-10:00

A while ago, I had an opportunity to teach our intern cohort at our church the paradigm of Tri-Perspectival Leadership. There has been much written about this subject already.

Pastors David Fairchild and Drew Goodmanson of Kaleo Church, along with others in the Acts 29 Network, have done some work to extrapolate the theological foundations laid by Dr. John Frame and Vern Poythress into this leadership paradigm.

In attempting to teach it to our cohort I created a visual representation of one of their talks explaining this very helpful paradigm. This way of thinking has greatly informed all aspects of my ministry especially counseling, correction and preaching.

I pray that this chart along with the talks and articles will benefit yours as well.

Here are the links to the various resources:

Chart (via Goodmanson.com)

Acts 29 Talks:
1. Prophet, Priest, and King
2. Triperspectival Leadership

Online Articles:
1. Drew Goodmanson
2. John Frame (primer)

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addition added on 1/8/10

Also for those involved in teaching and preaching here is a great resource from Tim Keller and Ed Clowney. They taught a 1 week intensive course on Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World.

It is pretty much an intensive class on Christocentric preaching from all of scipture. Really good but really dense material here.

iTunes download link
Accompanying 189 page pdf (that is not a typo...189 8.5"x11" pages)

Pastor Matt Chandler's pre-surgery witness

2009-12-04T08:17:00.003-10:00

"18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Philippians 1:18-21

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Praying with and seeing the example of Pastor Matt Chandler through this difficult time in his family's life has been more impactful than any message that I have ever heard him preach. I praise God for pastors like him who never take their eyes of Jesus and their calling to shepherd and pastor their people even in the midst of their own suffering.

I pray that I would have the same commitment as Paul and Matt Chandler in seeing Christ honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

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Matt Chandler's pre-surgery reflections:

The last seven days have been some of the most interesting of my life. I have felt anxiety, fear, sadness and a deep and unmovable joy simultaneously and in deeper ways than I have felt before. I am grateful for this heightened sense of things. Today at 10:45 a.m. CST I will have a good portion of my right frontal lobe removed. I head into that surgery with a heart that is filled with gratitude and hope.

Here are some of the things I am thankful for in no particular order:

1. I am thankful for the thousands of you who have prayed and fasted for my health. It has brought far more tears to Lauren’s and my eyes to receive this kind of attention from the Church universal than this tumor has.
2. I’m thankful for health insurance because I’m guessing they aren’t doing my five-hour surgery for free!
3. I am thankful that I have deep, real friendships at The Village with Michael Bleecker, Josh Patterson, Brian Miller, Chris Chavez and Beau Hughes. They have been such a comfort to me and my family this past week. Pastors should have good friends on their staff. It’s risky but worth the risk.
4. I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.
5. I am thankful for my wife Lauren. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
6. I am thankful for my children. Audrey the Beautiful, Reid the Valiant and Norah the Joyous. Being a daddy to these three is one of the greatest joys of my life.
7. The privilege of seeing and appreciating all of life through the grid of a heightened sense of my own mortality.
8. I am thankful for brilliant doctors and surgeons who have been given a real gift by our great God and King to repair things as complex as the brain.
9. I am thankful for The Village Church. If there is a place that loves Jesus more, takes sanctification as seriously and wants to see the lost love the great King deeply I am unaware of it. These last seven years have been a spectacular joy!
10. More than anything else I am grateful to my King Eternal, my Lord Immortal, for my God invisible. He alone is God. All Glory and Honor, Forever to You O God. I am overwhelmed in these moments by God Himself and the assurance of a future inheritance of a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and where all things are made new (Hebrews 12).

Christ is All,
Matt Chandler

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Francis Chan : Engaging in Authentic, 24/7 Community

2009-08-04T23:36:00.002-10:00

Below is an excerpt form an article entitled Starting Over by Pastor Francis Chan. It is a condensed version of the talk that he gave at the Exponential conference:

View the full article here.

Engaging in Authentic, 24/7 Community:

Starting over would also mean changing how our church viewed and fostered community. If you came off an island after reading Scriptures, and then walked into a local church, what would you expect to see? I would expect to see a group of people boldly loving one another, sharing their possessions with each other, spending time together like a family.

A little over a year ago, we baptized this guy who came out of the gangs. I remember loving his fire and passion. A while later, someone came up to me and said that this guy had stopped coming to Cornerstone and had told him, “I had the wrong vision of church. I thought that when I got baptized and joined the church, it was going to be like when I got jumped into the gang. Immediately, we became family. They had my back 24 hours a day. If I was sleeping in the street, they were sleeping there with me. We didn’t get together just once a week; it was all the time. I guess I just didn’t understand church. It’s like Satan stole God’s playbook, and people are attracted to gangs because they’re doing things biblically—except for the killing part.”

That kills me! It’s so sad that gangs are a better picture of family than the body of Christ. And it just makes me say that it’s not this guy, it’s us—we are the ones who don’t understand church.

And I’ve heard the arguments. I know people say that even though it’s biblical, you can’t pull off that kind of bold community in today’s culture. And to that, I ask, Have we forgotten who the Holy Spirit is? If Jesus could look at 11 people and say, “You’re going to get the message to the whole world without Internet access,” then we can grab 11 people and reach these three or four blocks. It’s the same Holy Spirit. I’ve got to believe that the Holy Spirit still can and will do these amazing things. We’re going through this as a church right now. The leaders of our church are my best friends. I trust them. I know that if I die tonight, these guys will take care of my family. They’ll treat my kids like their own. We’re seeing that type of bond happen. Today’s Church can foster bold and authentic, 24/7 community.

Information Overload Syndrome

2009-07-21T11:02:00.001-10:00

(HT:JT)

Are we preparing our kids adequately?

2009-07-03T11:00:00.000-10:00

Some humor from The Onion Network.

Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Bible Giveaway Contest from Logos

2009-07-02T07:24:00.002-10:00

Check out the Logos Bible Giveaway contest. They're giving away some of the most premium bibles on the market!

"Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study."

John Piper - Christ as Our Treasure

2009-06-10T14:16:00.002-10:00

Twitter Graphically Defined

2009-06-02T09:34:00.004-10:00

Funny but true.

2009-05-28T22:21:00.001-10:00

My wife and I have been too ghetto to pay someone else to take pictures of us so we just went to Ko'olina Beach and took some ourselves. And with a little bit of Photoshop magic it kinda looks like we know what we're doing!

Lets not be so quick to celebrate...

2009-05-20T22:27:00.005-10:00

Tonight Kris Allen won American Idol in front of millions of people. He was the underdog in the competition. His range and vocal capabilities were no where near his opponent Adam Lambert but he had obvious charisma and humility. In fact when he won he was speechless because he had absolutely nothing prepared. The only thing he said was "I don't know what to say. Adam deserves this." Even in victory he still believed that Adam should have won.

As my wife and I watched it was kind of bittersweet for us because, although We wanted Kris to win, we also feared for his heart and his marriage. From this point on their lives are changed forever. And with enough money and fame, a humble heart can quickly turn haughty and arrogant. And on top of that anything they want will be available to them which quickly leads to idolatry of things.

I fear that Kris, if he hasn't already, will ironically fall into idolatry of fame and popularity. The same idolatry that pastors can fall into when they are praised too much and made much of. God has given him a talent for music and influence. I pray that he will one day see Christ as worthy enough to divert all the praise for himself to Him.

Lets congratulate but let's also pray for his heart and his marriage. That he would remain humble and that Christ would take root as the foundation of their relationship.

Youth Ministry Musings

2009-05-03T21:04:00.003-10:00

This past weekend we had one of the best services that we've ever had. And it wasn't because we did anything extravagant or that our program was totally legit, or that our numbers were high. I believe it was because of the sense of community that prevailed. The Holy Spirit is definitely at work in the hearts of our leaders, staff and youth. I'm stoked because I'm convinced that as community builds around the unifying Gospel, not around me, the leaders or the place, but Christ and Him crucified, we're gonna start seeing staff and students alike be on mission 24/7 and we can see this mug grow right, through gathering then scattering. Through equipping then sending. Praise Jesus who is not only the motivation and goal behind our ministry but also the one who defines success and makes sure it happens. He truly is all and above all.

Colossians 1:15-23

Christians can be like babies...

2009-05-03T17:34:00.008-10:00

Funny but too often true.

"Christians can be like babies. When they're newborns they only take milk and are generally pleasant. But when they start to take solid food they throw up on people and their crap starts to stink."

-anonymous

The Good Samaritan?

2009-05-03T16:45:00.004-10:00

I love the Bible. I love studying the Bible. I love being convicted by the Bible. I love preaching the Bible. Above all I love the God of the Bible. But in my humanity my heart can sometimes become calloused towards some of the things that the Bible has to say. Especially stories that I've heard over and over again. One of those stories is the story of The Good Samaritan which can be found in Luke 10:25-37.

Most will identify with the priest or the Levite and leave this passage feeling convicted, challenged and hopefully spurned into action to live on mission all the time, no matter the cost to their own person. But some are more arrogant and will readily identify with the Samaritan, thinking to themselves, "If that ever happened I would do the right thing."

Usually this is based on other external works of charity or kindness to others. But these acts don't normally involve any significant sacrifices on the part of the "philanthropist". Usually their level of service stops at the point of any discomfort.

In speaking of the difference between knowing of God and truly knowing Him, the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards writes:

"Thus there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. So there is a difference between believing that a person is beautiful, and having a sense of his beauty. The former may be obtained by hearsay, but the latter only by seeing the countenance."

He uses this analogy of honey:
There is a difference between knowing that honey is sweet by reading about it and knowing that it is sweet by actually tasting it yourself.

Do we ever have a true knowledge of what we would do if we were in the Samaritan's place? Not until it actually happens.

Well for many at our ministry center this past Saturday it did happen. As I pulled into the parking lot on Saturday Morning I passed by a homeless man apparently sleeping on the church premises. I hardly noticed him as I went into the building to prep for that evenings sermon. Later on more than 4 people came up to me to "alert" me that there was a man on premises and that I had to kick him off the property before our youth group service started. No doubt that countless others there that day had simply passed him by. I thought that if I waited long enough he might just go on his own and so I waited. But then it came time for service and so I begrudgingly went outside expecting to be met with resistance and attitude. But the man I encountered was the exact opposite. In fact he was absolutely compliant and understanding of the request. I talked with the man for a while about his life story and how he got to be where he was at that exact moment. I gave him some clothes and blankets that we had in the building and invited him to come back on Monday for some food, a shower and more clothes. As I began to walk away he didn't budge. So I asked if he needed any help getting up.

He did.

I could feel my Adam's Apple drop into my gut as I realized that his man had only been here all day because he could not get up. Flies encircled his entire body which was half clothed, smelled like feces and full of scabs. So I bear hugged him from behind and lifted him onto his feet and he went on his way.

As I walked back into the office I thought about how my soul is way more dirty than than that man's clothes. How could I be so selfish and let that man suffer in the heat all day because I thought someone else would take care of it. May it never be again. My prayer is that God would burn this memory into my skull that I won't ever forget.

I've tasted the honey but only after I had fooled myself into thinking that I knew what it tasted like already.

2009-04-21T11:48:00.002-10:00

An interesting and convicting article on the Christian "quite time" by Tim Challies over at Challies.com

Here's one of my favorite quotes form the middle of the article.

"Quiet time becomes tyrannical when you understand it as a performance. Bridges provides a pearl of wisdom. “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.” Whether you are having a good day or a bad day, the basis of your relationship with is not your performance, for even your best efforts are but filthy rags. Instead, your relationship is based on grace."

Check out the whole thing here.

Piper Interviews Chandler

2009-04-20T17:53:00.003-10:00

Part 1 - Chandler tells his story up to about 20 years old.

Part 2 - More on Chandler's story, through becoming a pastor.

Part 3 - Chandler's thoughts on being a pastor, a Calvinist, and a Complementarian.

Part 4 - Chandler and Piper finish up with some advice for pastors.

Lasting Joy vs. Circumstantial Happiness

2009-04-05T22:40:00.003-10:00

As a youth pastor I get the privilege of preaching and exampling God's word to high school students almost every weekend, sometimes during our midweek services and throughout the week in personal conversations.

One thing that God has laid on my heart for the people that I get to shepherd is to constantly attack the idols in their lives (and in mine as well) with the truth of God's word. The things that they have built up to stand as their sources of happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment and comfort.

I stumbled upon this guy Albert Martin who makes some amazing videos. This one in particular communicates so clearly what I try to articulate (sometimes unsuccessfully) every week. The idea of Lasting Joy vs Circumstantial Happiness.

Check it out.

Lasting Joy vs. Circumstantial Happiness from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

That's my King...do you know Him?

2009-04-05T22:24:00.007-10:00

That's My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.

True Meaning of Easter

2009-04-05T21:57:00.004-10:00

Cruising around today with my wife we say bunny after bunny and marshmallow peep after marshmallow peep. I originally wanted to post my own thoughts on this but then I came across these two videos that I think cut to the heart of what Easter is all about.

The content is creative and right on and the guys who made them have cool British accents so it makes it even more interesting to watch.

Their message is not only for Easter. They speak to something that we should be celebrating every day. They come as a pair so be sure to watch them both.

THAT'S EASTER Life to Death from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

THAT'S EASTER Death to Life from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

Original link: Between Two Worlds.

Blogs vs. Bible

2009-02-26T08:14:00.003-10:00

Through some very unfortunate circumstances I will be Macbook Pro-less for more than a week. And while at first glance it seemed like a dismal outlook when I look at how much home work, sermon preparation and graphic design I actually need to get done within the next week, it's actually a blessing in disguise.

I have been without my computer for about 2 days now and I am slowly realizing how dependent I was on it. And to take it a step further I think that I was actually addicted to it or at least the internet on it. Because I no longer have a laptop handy I see myself going to my iPhone a lot more to check on random blogs, craigslist and to even read the Bible online. I think I'm addicted.

I have put some boundaries on my time spent online since this realization. This non-self imposed fast from my computer has made realize that I oftentimes depend more on my computer than I do on the Lord. That is utterly wrong and shameful.

My computer provides me with research tools, programs with which to design and make money as well as an outlet to be creative through blogging and videos. But now I realize that it became my default when I would feel any sort of anxiety or stress. Instead of meditating on His word and praying to Him I would read my anxieties away on good but not crucial reading material (i.e. blogs vs. the Bible)

This is kind of embarrassing to write about but I have a feeling that this might be true of so many of us. But if we are just humble enough to admit it and see Christ as worthy enough to do something about it then I think writing this is worth it all.

In the past I've scoffed at the idea of a technology fast or a t.v. fast. But if one aspect of fasting is to expose, as Piper puts it, our "sediment of self-reliance" than I think it would do us all good to do just that with technology.

Singing in the Rain remix

2009-02-20T08:53:00.001-10:00

Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly was on last night. It reminded me of this video.

It's an oldie but goodie.

Sanctification through child rearing (not child bearing on my part)

2009-01-16T21:02:00.006-10:00

6 weeks and counting. Time flies by fast.

God uses many things in my life to sanctify my soul. This little one will be a life long tool used by God to effect that process in my life. Already, I understand more what God means when He tells us that He loves us as our Father. And I've begun to understand the Gospel of grace a little bit more as I try to calm her at 3am and she just won't listen (sounds familiar). I'm sure God has much more in store for me and my wife as our children grow up. Just like only a surfer knows the feeling so it goes with fatherhood.

Humility Actualized

2009-01-16T20:55:00.004-10:00

Ray Ortlund is one of my favorite pastors because he offers up an example of humility and gracious wisdom that is rare in our day. From his blog Christ is Deeper Still, he offers up daily doses of that wisdom that he has garnered from years of pastoral ministry. Recently he and his church joined the Acts 29 Network of church planters. They say that church planting is a young man's work and most of the people within the network probably look to men like Ray Ortlund for wisdom and advice. But in this recent post he lists some reasons why he has decided to join. It shows the humility in his heart and says a lot about the network, their mission and the wisdom with which they try to accomplish that mission.

Check it out here: http://christisdeeperstill.blogspot.com/2009/01/immanuel-and-acts-29.html

"He loved me for I am"

2008-12-29T16:32:00.004-10:00

As a youth pastor I always have one ear open for recurring themes within the high school generation's culture. Today I heard yet another hurt young lady say that the reason she dated and stayed with a particular hurtful and selfish young man is that he "loved her for who she was." Time and time again this mantra is repeated by young ladies to defend their choices in romance. Usually we hear it come from dejected, self-conscious young girls with little to no self confidence. And so they try to find that confidence somewhere.

Unfortunately, this same mantra can be heard by many adults as well who, instead of dealing with difficulty, choose to hide and isolate themselves from the problem and consequently anything related to the problem. A particular example that I have seen recently is a pastor who could not handle the pressures of being "The Guy". The one that everyone looked to for vision, leadership, counsel etc. As a result he emotionally and mentally isolated himself from the church, his family and his elder board. He felt that everyone wanted something from him. And so in the act of isolating himself he hid in another woman's bed. And that is when the mantra was espoused as an excuse for his adultery, "She loves me for who I am."

God has shown us that there is a different path to take than isolation and hiding. There is another source of confidence and strength when ours seems depleted. There really is a person who loves us. But not for who we are but because of who He is. And again not for who we are but despite who we are. That is grace. The Holy God, Creator of the Universe, knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows the depth of our compassion, kindness and love because He enables us to do those things. And he also knows that extreme depth of our sin because it was our sin that was placed upon his shoulders on the cross. That person is Jesus Christ.

So when we feel depleted, dejected, rejected and lonely lets remember Paul's account in 2 Corinthians 12:8,9:

"8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

He knows us best of all. Yet he still loves us.

Christless Christianity

2008-10-28T14:56:00.004-10:00

Some awesome, thought provoking and convicting quotes from Christless Christianity and Tim Challies' review of the book:

"Just as you don’t really need Jesus Christ in order to have T-shirts and coffee mugs, it is unclear to me why he is necessary for most of the things I hear a lot of pastors and Christians talking about in church these days.”"

-Michael Horton in Christless Christianity

Through all of this I’d suggest the most important statement in the book may just be this: “It is not heresy as much as silliness that is killing us softly.” This is where the book may be most useful for the conservative Christians who are the audience most likely to read it. All of us can fall into silliness without tossing aside the gospel. We can hold fast to Christian theology, even while allowing silliness and levity to pervade the very fabric of our church. A once-serious institution can become overrun by programs and purposes that slowly erode the gravity and simplicity of the church’s unique calling."

-part of Tim Challies' review of Christless Christianity on www.challies.com

Holiness Incinerates Flesh

2008-10-16T09:04:00.001-10:00

“1 Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.”

Malachi 3:1-4

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Malachi is foreshadowing the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus. Most people believed that when Christ, the Messiah of Israel came he would bring peace, independence and prosperity with him. We see in Acts that many people rise up claiming to be this expected savior only to be killed and forgotten because their movements were form man and not form God. People had the wrong expectations of what Christ would accomplish. Verse 1 presents Him as the “messenger of the covenant in whom you delight.” But then the very next verse says, “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.”

Jesus was going to bring peace and prosperity but not in the way that everyone expected. To the sinner, which includes everybody, he will be like a fire or fuller’s soap. Fire burned away dross until the pure metal was left. Fullers soap was the soap that people would use to clean their linens and then people would lay them out on rocks and beat them with reeds. Either illustration would be seen as painful and opposite of what they were expecting. But this indeed marked Jesus’ ministry. He openly mocked the false teachers and Pharisees and he repeatedly told people that suffering accompanied following Him. Like pressure on coal makes diamonds; suffering on repentant sinners creates character.

He ends this paragraph by saying that the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord. This happens only after suffering produced character and right hearts. Right action without the right heart is gross the Lord.

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People often believe that Jesus is there to be our healer, our comfort, our strength and our provider. While all this is true He also came to confront flesh.

I am often guilty of this kind of thinking. I love what Christ offers but I don’t like the road that I have to take to get there. Christ’s holiness is an affront to my flesh. But too often I compare myself to other people to make myself feel good. Instead of comparing myself to Christ and His holiness I compare myself to other sinners.

The Bible talks about the fact that in the presence of Holiness flesh will burn away. Even Moses could not look at the face of God. He was only allowed to look at his back. But we as Christians do not allow the Holiness of God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit inside of us to burn away our flesh. We let our flesh sit and mingle. We hold onto our desires to be first, to have much and to be made much of. Instead of killing our flesh in the face of God’s holiness.

I have to do this. Especially in ministry, if we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to do this than our enemy will definitely capitalize. We have to get away from the idea that following Jesus is an easy road. That He wants as we are and that it’s ok to stay that way. We need to let Jesus confront and destroy our sin not just save us from it.

The apostles were daily performing miracles and people sought them out. It is really easy to get prideful in this situation. We see them before Jesus’ death asking which one will be the first in Heaven. Thus the suffering kept them humble by killing their pride and forcing them to rely on the Spirit and Jesus.

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Dear God,
Please kill my sin and build in me an increasing hatred for it. Help me to feel the weight of sin that Jesus had to bear.

Thanks,
In Jesus name Amen

Suffer Well

2008-10-15T08:40:00.000-10:00

“It is all one; therefore I say,
        He destroys both the blameless and the wicked
When disaster brings sudden death,
        he mocks the calamity of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
        he covers the faces of its judges -
        if it not he, who then is it?“

Job 9:22-24

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        Job’s friend Bildad offers his attempt at consolotion in the midst of his suffering by calling him a wretched sinner who needs to repent of some hidden sin against God. And while I think that this is practically always a good place to start, it does not offer the explanation for the suffering that Job is seeking.

        Job’s reply to this plea for repentance is that he understands the logic behind what his friend is saying but in reality he does not see that play out. He sees the wretched prospering and the upright suffering. He understands that no man can stand before God and offer a case that will compel God to reprieve his judgement. He says in verse 3, ”If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.“ The word ”contend“ offers insight into the legal process that Job and Bildad are speaking about. On one hand he understands the truth of God’s justice and the truth that He upholds the upright. But he also knows the utter depravity of man’s heart. And that in the face of God there is no arbiter able to go between them and plead his case. He is stuck in between one of those doctrinal tensions where both are true but from our perspective it makes no sense.

        And so he defaults to what he knows is true; to what he can perceive and that is that the happenings of the world whether it be the calamity of the innocent or the prosperity of the wicked are governed ultimately by the Lord. He is confused and does not understand what is going on but although He doesn’t understand fully he defaults to what he knows to be true. God is a good God and that that good God is in full control. In the next chapter we see his heart poured out as he pleads with God for reprieve but still in utter confusion.

        But we know the the full story of Job in that he defaults to the truth that his life is in the hands of the Lord that he trusts, loves and submits to.

---

        When bad times come it is natural for man to assume that our actions had something to do with bringing that calamity. In fact it is probably a good thing to first look at our hearts and repent of our actions adn thoughts. But we shouldn’t assume that our actions are the cause of our suffering. With the eastern philiosophy of Karma our actions determine whether we experience suffering or prosperity. And too often this has been carried over into Christianity. But through mere observation we can see, like Job saw, the wicked prosper and the upright suffer.

        So how then are we to suffer well. How are we as Christians to understand the world when a 2 month old baby is mauled by a pitbull or when a loving husband and a father of 4 is killed in a train wreck leaving the family with a mortgage and no way of making ends meet? How are we to understand when our own families suffer the loss of a loved one or when godless men make millions and are apparently living the life?

        We default back to what we know to be true. That God is good, able, perfectly wise and in full control.

        And so we have two choices. Faith or fear? Do we put faith in what we know to be true or do we fear what we do not know? CIrcumstances, future, reasons for suffering. There is so much that we do not know that can bring unhealthy fear into our lives. But there is one thing or rather one person that we do know and that is God. Not that we know about God but that we know Him as our loving father.

Glossy Eyes

2008-10-07T08:55:00.000-10:00

“1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, ”Look at us.“ 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.“

Acts 3:1-8

---

Peter and John had been eyewitnesses to Jesus’ crucifixion. After seeing that and His subsequent resurrection they were forever changed. Gone was their doubt in His name and His power. Peter would never again deny the Lord even to at the cost of his own life. And now they not only walked with a new confidence in Christ but also by the power of the Holy Spirit and through faith in Christ’s name. And so here they encounter this man that has been laying by the gate daily asking for alms. He had one concern, one focus and that was to get money. In his mind he thought that that was all that he needed. That was the utmost that he could think of ever needing to survive. And in his mind that was all that would ever be offered besides scoffs and the dust off of people’s feet. Never in his wildest imaginations would he have ever dreamt of an encounter like the one he had that day with Peter and John.

Here come two men walking straight towards him. They most like looked like any other men walking by. But then they both direct their gazes directly at him. It is most probable that most people would try to avoid his gaze like many of us do to the homeless man outside of our car windows. But these two stared at him intently and even commanded him, ”Look at us.“ And as he did perhaps there was a glimmer of hope that they would throw some money his way. But they were able to discern his heart; his yearning for silver and gold. But they knew that they had something much more valuable to offer him. And so they healed him through the name of Jesus Christ and it says that he got up and started leaping and praising God. He did not simply get up and walk and thank them for what they did. He recognized that it was indeed God who had healed him and that it was Him that deserved the praise. He had been given the gift of a renewed heart and a very tangible example of God uplifting the weak. His actions leave little doubt that he was hit by Peter’s subsequent Gospel message and that he was numbered with the 5,000.

---

Many times in my life I feel like God has told me to look at him. Not to simply look to him or for him. But at him. To gaze intently. To look at Him for who He claims to be; not who I wish him to be. Much like this lame beggar I often look to God expecting something that from my perspective would make everything better; would give me satisfaction and joy. But He has so much more to offer than what I am expecting him to give. In his infinite wisdom and mercy he knows exactly what I need. Just like Peter and John were able to perceive the true needs of that man so God know my true needs past the expectations that my glossy eyes convey. Most of the time what I think is good for me is not God’s best.

2 sides of the coin

2008-09-09T09:11:00.004-10:00

“Look, O LORD, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed”

Lamentations 2:20

“19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.”

Revelations 14:19,20

---

Here we see two different pictures of God’s wrath being poured out on people. In Lamentations we see God’s wrath poured out on His people in Jerusalem. The writer was expressing his sorrow over the loss of this great city and the people that it represented. Because of their unfaithfulness and unwillingness to repent God’s wrath was poured out on them. This wrath was far worse than the wrath of any dictator or invading conquerer. It was the wrath of the Lord. It was so bad that women were desperate enough to eat their own offspring. Jeremiah 19:9 says that it is because of the stress of the invasion that they are brought to this despicable act.

And yet this was still God’s wrath poured out on this temporary world. How much greater in the eternal realm.

John writes in apocalyptic style that God’s wrath is like a wine press outside the city gates. A wine press is a device in which grapes are placed and then either slowly crushed by a flat plate or trodden under foot. Juice then flows out of it. In this wine press blood flows out for 1,600 stadia or almost 184 miles. That picture is scary. It completely wipes away the “nice”, “peaceful” pictures of God sitting atop clouds and blessing his people. Instead it shows a picture of a righteous and holy God incensed at the sin of man.

In today’s Christian circles, hell and God’s wrath are not popular topics. People cry out “We don’t want to scare people into loving God.” This is largely a push against the old hellfire and brimstone preaching. But if we are to be teachers of the “whole counsel” of God then we have to preach both sides of the coin for both are products of the Gospel.

On one side we have the notion that God is loving and gracious and that in Him we have the fullness of satisfaction and eternal blessing.

On the other side Christ became our propitiation which means that He paid the price that it costs to appease God’s wrath on our behalf so that we no longer have to suffer the consequences of our sin. Namely God’s wrath and eternal suffering in Hell.

Both are true. Both are key components of the fullness of Gospel.

If we preach solely Hell and wrath than we breed God fearing people devoid of joy.

If we preach solely God’s blessings and fulfillment as adopted children of God than we create joyful people who don’t feel the weight and consequences of their sin.

To be faithful teachers I think we have to be committed to both. For there is no need for grace apart from the consequence of God’s wrath. The greater the consequence the greater the grace.

Preaching both has the potential to create a people secure in the grace of God, thankful for there salvation and living passionately so that others will come to know the same grace.

---

Some questions I need to answer:

How do I get these messages across to the High School students that God has placed under my care?

What words need to change?

How do I take it down to their level of understanding without compromising the truth?

What are some other ways of communicating these truths besides preaching?

How are these truths affecting me and my actions on a daily basis?

Sunday in Washington

2008-08-31T20:05:00.006-10:00

This Sunday has been one of the best Sundays in quite a while. This morning I had the chance to attend my parents' church, the Downtown Seattle Campus of Mars Hill Church and I was also able to visit Puyallup Foursquare's High School Ministry.

At Mars Hill Pastor Mark was not speaking this weekend so Pastor Tim Gaydos, the campus pastor, gave the message on the fourth chapter of Jonah. He was awesome. From a public speaking standpoint he had a few things to work on as we all do. But what made it powerful was his authenticity. His obvious radical love for Jesus and his passion to reach the city to which he has been sent. His message on Jonah was different from the moralistic/exemplaristic preaching that we see too often with Old Testament stories. He was on point with his context and redemptive historical acumen. At the end he cast vision for his community and called his congregation to live missionally in their community bringing the Gospel of Reconciliation to the lost while serving them lovingly. That is what I love about this church! They are always challenging and never complacent when it comes to their mission and calling as a "city within a city". Another thing that struck me was their worship. In a word it was...different. My parents totally don't get it at all but they love the community and so they stay. But what made the worship unique was the obvious theological bent to all of the songs. Case in point, we went from singing a great rendition of Amazing Grace to a song entitled 'Destruktor' which spoke of the hatred God has for sin and his obligation to punish sinners. I enjoyed the lyrics and what they made me ponder. I might not have worshipped with my lips singing praises as I just couldn't catch their melody but I did worship with my mind as I marveled at the the greater truths of God. I guess as long as God is worshipped any style will do for me!

---

A few hours later I went down to Puyallup to see my friend Chad Veach lead, coach and preach through an awesome High School service at Puyallup Foursquare. He preached an incredible message on the mission of the church (coincidentally along the same lines as Pastor Tim at Mars Hill). The high school kids were obviously pumped and from what I could see (especially from the student leaders) they understood, accepted and were living out the message. Chad was an awesome leader. He was hard when he needed to be and showed grace when he needed to. His team obviously loved and respected him. The culture of the team was one of unity, community and genuine love for each other and that seeped out into the congregation. There were a few other youth pastors there from Portland, OR shadowing Chad and seeing how the ministry runs. I just came to visit a friend but I got a lot more than I had planned. We three youth pastors were greeted warmly and we learned an incredible amount in a short time. I pray that my leadership and ministry would mirror some of the great qualities that make Chad and Puyallup Foursquare High School Ministry fruitful and successful at making Jesus famous.

Love = Action

2008-08-12T08:36:00.000-10:00

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

John 14:21

“but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

John 14:31
___

In the book of James we see that faith necessarily manifests itself through good works. This saving faith imparts the Holy Spirit in us and that indwelling relationship MUST change us. If we say that we are saved and that the Holy Spirit is in us yet we see no change, no progression then we are revealed as liars. It would be like if I came to work and told every one that I had been hit by a bus while walking across the street but I had no physical markers of that encounter. An encounter with a bus would have to produce some sort of mark. Likewise, an encounter with the all powerful creator of the universe would have to leave its mark.

But here Christ is talking about more than simple faith. He is talking about love. An affection for God that provokes us to action. He even likens our obedience to Him with His obedience to the father.

When a person is in love with someone they will go to great lengths to please that other person. When I first started dating my wife I didn’t mind staying up late and talking on the phone, driving far distances just to see her for a few minutes, spending ridiculous amounts of money to get her things that she probably didn’t even want but that I thought would be cool for her to have. I would do whatever it took to please her. It was easy. I didn’t think twice about it.

That is what Christ is talking about. A people so in love with God that pleasing Him becomes our number one goal. It becomes second nature. It is what drives our obedience. Not just faith but a deep love relationship. So deep that when we stray far from Him our hearts ache. And when we spend time with Him and enjoy His presence our hearts beat fast.
___

The sad truth is that the initial passion wanes. Much like marriage, there is the honey moon phase, and then there is a time when we have to fight for that passion; to be deliberate about keeping it alive. We have date nights, we cook for each other, we surprise each other romantic gestures etc. Not to say that the love is not there. But it is inevitable that passion will wane and it is out Job to fight to bring it back.

It is the same with our relationship with God. Our flesh loves to make war with our spirit. It loves to make much of the temporary and little of the eternal. We get caught up in life and that passion wanes. It is our jobs to fight to bring that passion back.

What are some ways that I can get that passion back and sustain it?

How can I change my devotional time so that I am meeting with Jesus rather than simply checking off that part of my schedule.?

One of the ways that I get filled is theology. Some people hate theology. They would leave it up to pastors and teachers to know that “stuff”. But I think that the more we get to know God. The more we learn to love the doctrines that help inform our view of Him than the deeper our worship becomes.

Another way that I try to sustain it is by reading about His work through the lives of others like Spurgeon, Edwards or missionaries like Titus Coan.

I also like to get away form the hustle and bustle of life and just spend time with Him. Not simply time alone surfing or hiking but making the most of that time by praying or simply pondering Him.

Each person’s strategies will be different. But the goal is the same. To kindle a passionate love for our God that produces obedience so that the world will know that we love God.

Faith

2008-08-07T08:04:00.009-10:00

Recently Matt Chandler posted a candid letter that he wrote to his worship leader, Bleeker about some convictions that he had about income generated outside of his role as pastor of his church family.

My post here doesn't line up exactly with the sentiments in his letter but it was sparked by his words.

I am not a senior pastor. In fact I am a 5th and 6th grade pastor. However God has given me strong convictions to proclaim the truth of the Gospel through preaching and teaching. I have a job that pays me to play dodgeball, watch kids eat and do crazy things and preach His word. I also have a graphic design business on the side that generates some income for my family. Times have been tough lately and so I have been taking on more design projects and spending less time with my family and ministry as a result.

I have been trying to find a balance between believing that God will provide and my calling as a man to work and make things happen.

I have not fully worked it out yet, but I feel like God wants me to stop doing graphic design. I am way more reliant on my ability to provide a service and get paid for it than I am on God. That is evidenced by my worrying mind and having my priorities moved around just to make ends meet.

I know that I am called to be a husband and a father. I know that I am called to be in ministry and preach the Gospel. I also know that graphic design pulls me away from both.

God is convicting me that I have not been relying on Him. I have not been a state where faith was possible because I tried to do it on my own strength. Oh that He would grant me faith enough to obey Him when He tells me to stop designing and start praying.

Hermeneutics and Preaching to Children

2008-08-07T07:14:00.004-10:00

John Walton posts about Hermeneutics and Children's Curriculum.

The 5 most common fallacies that he cites are:

1. Promotion of the trivial
2. Illegitimate extrapolation
3. Reading between the lines
4. Missing important nuance
5. Focus on people rather than God

This was extremely interesting to me and something that I have been milling about myself. Since I pastor 5th and 6th graders they come straight from our children's ministry. I have found that they have learned the biblical stories but have no idea how they fit together in the biblical narrative and more importantly how they all point to Christ.

I don't teach from a curriculum and so I have freedom to build a synopsis that is gospel centered. Although many times I do often preach a little over their heads. My struggle has been, as is every preachers struggle to, contextualize the gospel as seen throughout scripture in a way that these "tweens" can understand.

Ours is most definitely a generally proactive ministry meaning we don't have as many years of life experience to be reactive to and confront with the Bible. They are still moldable, tender and "innocent" in some ways. I believe that if we can imbed the truths of God's love, grace, sovereignty, justice etc. They will be better prepared to face the challenges ahead and through them bring glory to Jesus.

In this rejoice...

2008-07-22T08:48:00.001-10:00

“3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.“

1 Peter 1:3-7
___

Peter was writing this letter to a people that were undergoing severe persecution and suffering. Peter has been called the ”Apostle of Hope” and in this first chapter we see that it is with this hope that he encourages his readers to endure the hardship of being a follower of Christ.

Here Peter repeats Christ’s encouragement in Matthew 5:12 where he says, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ”

The reason for our rejoicing is that we have an inheritance awaiting us in heaven. And this inheritance was not bought with anything that we had to offer but was given to us by God in His grace through Jesus. In that there is great hope, even a guarantee, because if we were the ones who had purchased it with our own deeds there would be the grave possibility of losing that inheritance but verse 5 reassures us that we “by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” We can stand secure in the fact that it was God’s choice based on who He was not what we’ve done. It cannot be taken away.

This hope in the future is a life sustaining truth. It is a joy filling, peace giving hope. Something to hold on to in our times of pain and weakness because of the cause of Christ. Being obedient to Him is a hard path.

I often hear and have even said myself that it’s easy to be a Christian in America. That there are other places in the world where being a Christian is difficult and dangerous.

But now that I think of it, being a Christian in America is very hard. But not in the same way as it is difficult in North Korea, China or Iran. Here we have so many things competing for our affections and it is easy to be comfortable and complacent. There is no pressure to pursue Christ or not. We can call ourselves a Christian or not and there is no real impact on lifestyles and situations. Now the case is different for certain individuals in different familial settings or college classrooms but generally speaking there is no danger. No great cost. We are not asked to change much.

But the road of salvation is a difficult one. In one setting the road is difficult because of outside physical threats and tangible fears. However, in this setting I think that the road is difficult because we have so many things competing for our affections. Too many of us, myself included, are not living the radical lives prescribed in the Bible and so the world for the most part tolerates us because the difference is not great. Our values are still similar.

That is why I have often struggled with giving this future inheritance the value that scripture affords it. Because of the high value that I have placed on the temporary, the value of the eternal is lessened. Although mentally I understand that my hope is ultimately in that inheritance, practically speaking I don’t live it.

However in persecution and suffering, our strength is poured out and we are found wanting and it is often at that point that we finally surrender to Christ and hope in Him and the inheritance that He has prepared for us.

It is for this hope that those facing death and imprisonment in other countries readily count their Familial relationships, material possessions and even their lives as loss for the gain of Christ.

Like the man who found a treasure in a field and then covered it and in his joy went and sold everything that he had in order to buy that field and obtain that treasure.
___

This idea of rejoicing in suffering is one of those things that we often get in hindsight. We have those, “Oh, now I get it.” moments. We can see God’s hand when we pull back and see the bigger picture. Kind of like the TV show 24. I once watched the entire first season on DVD in one sitting. In the midst of watching the season I would get anxious and the suspense would get to me.

“What’s gonna happen next.“ I would say. I couldn’t sleep or get peace until I knew what would happen next and so I ended up watching the whole thing through. But then when I would catch a rerun on TV I didn’t have to finish it. I wasn’t entrenched in the story. I knew the end so I had a peace about what would happen next. In fact I would even just have it in the background while Idid something else. Why?

Because I knew how the story ended.

Likewise, in the midst of our suffering the Bible tells us what the end will be. We have a hope to look forward to. Todays troubles are not everything. In fact once we know what the future holds we can almost put our suffering in the background while we pursue Christ’s transformation in our hearts and Christ’s will for us in other places. Knowing that He will never leave us nor forsake us and that He is preparing a place for us in heaven.

I need to get this. Consistently. I need to not just ”get this“ but to apply it. To live it.
___

Lord,
Please help me realize the treasure that I have in Christ and to feel the weight and the value of my future inheritance in comparison to this temporary world in which I am in exile from heaven. I pray that you would work on my heart tonight that I would have a renewed passion for the pursuit of Christ. Help me to count this world and all the it has to offer as loss compared to the all surpassing glory of Him whom you have sent for me. Help me to not have to wait for suffering to understand this hope that I might make you famous today.

In Jesus name, AMEN.

Conviction Salted With Grace

2008-07-17T12:42:00.004-10:00

Ray Ortlund on the "Truly Reformed" (check out the comments too):

INTRO:

I believe in the sovereignty of God, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Solas of the Reformation, I believe that grace precedes faith in regeneration. Theologically, I am Reformed. Sociologically, I am simply a Christian – or at least I want to be. The tricky thing about our hearts is that they can turn even a good thing into an engine of oppression. It happens when our theological distinctives make us aloof from other Christians. That’s when, functionally, we relocate ourselves outside the gospel and inside Galatianism.

The Judaizers in Galatia did not see their distinctive – the rite of circumcision – as problematic. They could claim biblical authority for it in Genesis 17 and the Abrahamic covenant. But their distinctive functioned as an addition to the all-sufficiency of Jesus himself. Today the flash point is not circumcision. It can be Reformed theology. But no matter how well argued our position is biblically, if it functions in our hearts as an addition to Jesus, it ends up as a form of legalistic divisiveness.

CONCLUSION:

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.

View the full post here.

Prayer that changes things

2008-07-15T07:06:00.000-10:00

“10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.“

Hebrews 12:10-11
___

The writer of Hebrews is exhorting his readers to endure; to push through suffering and temptation. In verse 4 he writes, “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” He asks us to “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you(we) may not grow weary or fainthearted.

He tells us to look back at Jesus’ example for encouragement in our own trials.

He then moves onto the discipline of the father and writes a phrase that hit me like a ton of bricks:

“...but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”
___

In the past I’ve preached on this idea that God imparts His righteousness on us because of Christ’s propitiation on the cross on our behalf and in our place. But for some reason as I read these words in Hebrews the weight of that statement was renewed in my heart.

This perfectly holy and eternal being actually shares His righteousness with me, a sinner.

But an important part of this verse that we mustn’t overlook is that we get to share His righteousness through the path of His discipline.

Too often we pray for God to fix this situation or to get us through that situation; to know His will for our lives that we might have something to hold onto in our times of trouble.

Kind of like my friend in high school who would pull out his policeman dad’s business card whenever we would get pulled over. He would never learn and we would get pulled over again but all he had to do to change his situation was pull out his dad’s card and we would again escape the ticket.

But in light of this verse I think that our lives and our prayers should be different. They should sound different.

Instead of asking Him to change our situation we should ask Him for strength and patience to endure; for open and teachable hearts that we might learn from His discipline and be able to share in His holiness. We should be begging Him for joy in the midst of our circumstances.
___

Dear Lord,
Help me to have eyes to see and ears to hear what you are trying to teach me through trials and discipline. Forgive me for being so blind and selfish at times to only pray for situations to be change but not hearts. I pray for a renewed perspective and a teachable heart.

In Jesus’ name, AMEN

Obedience and Faith: you can't have one without the other

2008-07-01T08:48:00.000-10:00

“18 Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

19 If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land;

20 but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be eaten by the sword;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Isaiah 1:18-20

“The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.“

Titus 3:8

____

In Isaiah’s prophecy we see God telling His people that he will clean them of their sins. That the red stain upon their souls will be turned white as wool with this condition: they be willing and obedient.

Then we see Paul urging Titus, right after proclaiming salvation by faith alone in the mercy of God through Jesus, to insist on right living according to correct doctrine as seen chapter 2. Orthodoxy leading to orthopraxy. Right thinking that leads to right practice.

He is clear in pronouncing our salvation as solely dependent upon God’s mercy and grace. But he is quick to remind Titus of the purpose of this insistence: ”...so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.“

In preparing to speak at Thrive High School Camp about discipleship I have been pondering what it means to be a believer and a disciple of Jesus. What I have found is that many people disassociate belief and obedience. They think that a saving faith in Jesus is simply acknowledging His atonement on the cross for our sins. They think that being a Christian means having that knowledge imbedded in their hearts. And to be true there is a great truth to that. None of our actions will ever be effective in changing God’s view of us. It is only up to His loving mercy.

Salvation IS through repentance and faith in Christ alone.

But in thinking about that statement more deeply I have come to realize that even that very first step of repentance is the first step in a lifetime of steps towards obedience to Jesus.

You can’t have one without the other.

There are folks who say that good works are a result of faith. The good fruit born of the good tree. But repentance is not simply a turning form sin. It is a turning towards God. It is an about face. It is a step of obedience.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book The Cost of Discipleship writes, ”Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.“

They are forever intertwined.

The true believer’s life is marked by this devotion to do good works.

Too often man will justify their sin by proclaiming God’s promise to forgive those in Christ Jesus. It is a false sense of comfort. This kind of grace is self imposed and unbiblical. It justifies the sin but does not justify the sinner.

A true believer in Christ is a person broken before the Lord because of their sin but bold in life because of God’s forgiveness.

God’s grace does not simply wash us clean but it also urges us to get back up when we fall and keep on contending for our faith.

Accepting God’s forgiveness is the same as saying, ”Yes Lord, I will follow you.“

___

As a pastor I am called to bring the people that God has placed under my care to an understanding of this concept. That being a Christian, being saved means becoming a disciple of Jesus at great cost to our flesh. It is a renunciation of one life for another one.

Sometimes we put a few coins into a vending machine to get some Funions or something. But when we place that last coin in nothing happens. The coin is stuck and so we don’t get the bag of chips.

The Gospel for far too many is like that last coin. It is in their minds. They have knowledge of it. They may even feel the weight of Christ’s sacrifice but it hasn’t dropped into their hearts. And so it does not produce emotions and affections that bid them to obedience. Their is no bag of chips and God is left waiting.

2 Corinthians 13:5 says:

”Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!“

It’s not too popular to question ones salvation. People often feel judged and become indignant when their faith is questioned. ”Who are you to judge?“ they ask.

But Paul’s admonition to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith means that there are people who are deceived into thinking that they are saved but their actions show no objective evidence.

I praise God that the coins have dropped in my heart. I am not perfect by any means but through obedience and constant repentance I am assured more and more that Christ is my savior.

I think instead of becoming indignant we should welcome the challenge to test ourselves.

___

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for your grace. Please forgive me of my disobedience. Holy Spirit, please continue to form and mold me that your grace would flow out of me through my actions in obedience to you.

In Jesus Name, AMEN

My 3 girls...

2008-06-24T09:40:00.002-10:00

My 3 girls waiting for me at home...My wife (Janeen), my baby girl (Eliana) and my dog (Lexi).

Is it over already?

2008-06-22T18:53:00.002-10:00

We just got back from our Summer Camp at Camp Erdman. Going into to it I really had no idea what it would be like. There was so much to do in preparation that I always felt that I was forgetting something. I was worrying about the outcome so much. Thankfully the Lord convicted me a few days before about trying to go it alone, without Him.

I stopped. I got down on my knees. I prayed.

Now on the "victory" side of camp, I don't see how I got anything done without Him. The team grew and came together, more kids signed up, the kids were stoked and the team was single minded in loving the kids throughout the weekend.

Forgive me for doubting. Thank you Jesus.

Putting up with others for His names' sake...

2008-06-17T08:42:00.003-10:00

“12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. “

Colossians 3:12,13

___

Paul uses the term ”put on“ here in verse 12. It gives us the sense that believers must choose to put these character markers on like one puts on a shirt. He also calls them ”God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved...“ God sees them, sees us, as holy and beloved. In the preceding verses he tells us that in Christ there is no difference between Jew or Greek, slave or free man etc. This is the basis for what he tells them to do next.

He tells the Colossians to put on love most of all because love is like the umbrella that all of these falls under. As Christians they were to show no partiality because Christ showed none. In His eyes all who were in Him were seen as holy and beloved, not because of anything they did, or the way they looked, or how much money or power they had. It was solely based on His choice; ”God’s chosen ones...“

In verse 13 he tells them to bear with one another. This greek word for ‘bear’ is anechō (ἀνέχω). It can also be translated ”put up with“ or ”endure”. The idea is that even though they are a body of believers they still have sinful tendencies that need to be forgiven as Christ forgave them. This obviously applies to us today as well. If we must choose to put on compassion, humility, meekness, patience and love then that means we can also choose to be uncaring, mean spirited, prideful, boastful, impatient and unloving.

He finishes this passage by telling us to do everything in the name of the Lord in other words, do it all in order for Christ to get all of the glory. That truly is what Christianity is about.

Christianity is not about ME going to church, ME reading the bible, ME being in a small group and ME sinning less.

Although those are certainly good things, ultimately the reason we are in Christ is so that He might be glorified. The reason we were saved was so that He might be known more. This may sound horrible to some. To think that God is self-centered. But I just read today in 2 Kings 20 about 2 instances where God saved His people form annihilation for His names sake. A simple word search for the term “for His names sake” produces countless other examples. Even Paul’s conversion was done so that the patience of God might be shown. From 2 Kings 20 we also see that when God is glorified is to our good. I don’t think that you can separate the two. In God’s pursuit to glorify Himself our joy is fulfilled.

It’s like the last line of the theme song of Married With Children:

Love and marriage. Love and marriage.

Go together like a horse and carriage.

This, I tell you brothers.

You can’t have one without the other

Just like love and marriage, God’s glory IS our ultimate joy. In a way, “you can’t have one without the other.”

___

To ‘put up with one another“ is key to unity in the body of Christ and this unity is key to making Christ known.

As John 17:22,23 says:

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Too many times I have seen leaders criticize the work of other leaders or volunteers. Because they might not be as organized, or the event did not go off as well as planned. I have seen youth form cliques and exclude the uncool or not as talented or not as old etc.

All of this is rooted in the thought, whether conscious or unconscious, that one is better than the other. That somehow because we are more attractive, more talented, have more money, pull off awesome events, fundraise tons of money or whatever it may be, we are better than someone else.

People who think like this are like a vending machine. You put in a few coins for a bag of chips. But that last coin hasn’t yet dropped and so you don’t get your bag of chips. The coin is in the machine but it has not yet been fully deposited. And just like that vending machine, these people intellectually understand grace but it has not dropped into their hearts affecting their emotions and affections and so their is no fruit of that grace evident in their lives.

As receivers of grace, we must be willing to bear with one another for the sake of unity in the body.

The American ideals of individualism and consumerism have seeped into the church. “If this doesn’t work for me I’ll get a new one.“ And so we see a pin ball effect where people are bouncing to and fro from church to church never building relationships. Or people stay within a particular body of Christ but become poisonous and acidic to those around due to their bitterness.

The only way to combat this is to fully understand grace and forgiveness which places everyone on the same level and urges us to put up with people’s sinful proclivities and not only that but to forgive as Christ forgave.

Do we allow sin to flourish and just simply endure it with no rebuke? By no means. But even the rebuke must be rooted in love with the ultimate goal of reconciliation to Christ and His body.

The idea is to never give up. Whether that means you giving up on the church and leaving or you giving up on the person and allowing them to continue sinning.

Both are a danger to unity.

So let us pursue unity in the body with love and grace as our foundation. Let’s pursue Christ with reckless abandon of our own pride and glory. So that unity flourishes and Christ is magnified and made known.

___

Lord,
Please root out of me anything that is working against your purposes of unity in the body. I lay my life down at your feet knowing that you love. Please use me as you please to love on others and glorify your name.

In Christ’s name, Amen

Pushing through the quitting moments

2008-06-15T22:53:00.002-10:00

Lakers take game 5, bringing the game to Boston.

I believe in miracles.

The Best Brand of Kicks - the Gospel of Peace

2008-06-10T09:02:00.000-10:00

“and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.“

Ephesians 6:15

This short passage in Ephesians 6 is the well known and often preached passage on spiritual warfare and the armor of God. I have heard many different takes on what spiritual warfare entails and what this set of scriptures is talking about. I still don’t understand it fully but what I do know is that the majority of everyday spiritual warfare is not battling demonic possession, casting demons out and the like. The majority of the battle is demon oppression fought in the mind.

Doubts, worries, concerns, desires, mislead passions, guilt, unbelief. All of these and more wage war against our souls; against the truth. But Ephesians 6:15 urges us to put on readiness of the gospel of peace as shoes.

In this passage I see three things that are key to understanding what is meant. Shoes, readiness and the gospel of peace.

Shoes protect our feet which is what we use move, to strive forward and stand tall. They give us something to stand on and walk in.

Readiness is self explanatory. Since we are talking about feet I think that this is the readiness to move. To take action.

But to understand what readiness really means we need to understand what the Gospel of Peace is. The gospel is God’s message to His people that the enmity that was once between us and Him is now gone through the power of Christ’s blood. His wrath which was ready to be poured out has been absorbed by Christ and no in place of enmity is peace; an open relationship.

Paul here is not telling us to put on the gospel as our shoes. He is telling us to put on readiness. The readiness to move with the gospel. To go where the gospel is going.

The readiness given by the gospel which says that our righteousness has been given to us through Christ not our own merit. And with that readiness our sense of self, our self esteem, our identity is no longer found in ourselves. And with that truth imbedded in our hearts the lies thrown at us hold no water and we are ready to move on when struck.

The Armor of God is presented as a defensive armor. The only offensive weapon is the word and the word IS the gospel of peace.

It has been said that the best defense is a good offense. And I think that that principle holds true here. As we live out the gospel, as we spread out the message, its truth becomes imbedded deep within our souls and we are continually ready to move. Never being hindered by the enemies fiery darts of doubt, despair, guilt or depression.

On the flip side, another weapon that the devil uses are our own proclivities and desires. Pride, selfishness, self-glorification, greed. The gospel of peace deals with these too. A good understanding of the gospel reveals our own depravity and need of a savior. It breaks down pride by taking away all of our power to make ourselves righteous and gives it to Christ. All of our action become filthy rags when compared to His righteousness.

___

This is way harder than it sounds. To live out the gospel and really believe it 24/7 is tough. Mentally I can understand it, but often when I look at my actions they don’t match up to my beliefs. I let other people’s view of me determine my self worth. I find myself trying to do my best not for God’s glory or to love on people but so that people will see what I’ve done. I know better. I believe in the gospel of peace but my actions don;’t always reflect it. Paul fell into this cycle of doing what he didn’t really want to do. But He knew God’s grace well. And that is truly the gospel of peace. God’s grace allows us; even urges to get back up and pursue Him once more. If it truly is all for His glory then it would do no good to stay down.

___

Jesus,
Help me to live what I know to be true. I love you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.

Submitting to Christ is like playing "Simon Says"...kind of.

2008-06-05T16:18:00.000-10:00

In July I have to speak at our High School Ministries Summer Camp on Moloka’i. I am both excited and petrified at this notion. The teaching theme given to me is “Modern Day Discipleship”; what it means to be a follower of Christ today.

The first session is supposed to be on what it means to “Count the Cost”; What does it cost to follow Christ?

There are many things to be said on this particular subject but as I was getting ready for bed tonight a thought popped into my mind that following Christ is kind of like playing Simon Says.

In Simon Says the players give up their rights and submit to the absolute authority of “Simon”. Whatever Simon tells them to do they must do it. If Simon doesn’t “say it“ and they do it they are out of the game.

The difference then is in the ”Simon“.

In the game, the role of ”Simon“ is to try to trick the players into doing an action that he didn’t say to do. ”Simon’s“ goal is to get people out.

But when Christ is the ”Simon“; when He is in the position of authority He gives us everything we need to stay in the game. He even pushes, prods, disciplines and rebukes us to make sure that we stay in it. And when we do something that goes against Him, He is quick to forgive those in Christ Jesus.

God Draws Near to Us in Christ

2008-06-03T08:39:00.001-10:00

“In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;“

Romans 15:17-19

___

Paul lived a missional lifestyle. He calls himself a priest to the Gentiles. He went around and proclaimed truth to a disobedient people and because of that he was often persecuted, jailed, whipped, and stoned. If anyone was to boast of his efforts and perseverance for the sake of the Gospel, it would have been him. But he doesn’t boast. His very words say that it was Christ who did the accomplishing; the Holy Spirit who gives hope and changes hearts. He was merely a vessel. With this mindset that he was merely a joyful pawn in God’s hands being used to bring Gentiles to repentance he had no room for pride. It wasn’t him. It was Jesus.

In today’s culture proclaiming truth is looked down upon. People don’t want to be told that what they believe is wrong. They call Christians who hold to the idea that Christ is the only way bigots, or closed-minded or narrow. They seem to think that as people get more educated and more modern, ideas about Christ should dissipate. In their eyes Christianity is backwards and ancient, not relevant today with all that we know now. When I was in college I would hear the same thing all the time, ”Don’t try to force your beliefs on me.“ They think that if you say ”What I believe is right and what you believe is wrong.“ then you are arrogant.

The thing is that they are doing the exact same thing. They are saying that they believe one thing and that what I believe is wrong. They are being ignorant and arrogant. All of the worlds belief systems and religions are to some degree based on the works of the individual to make them righteous or to get them closer to God.

Atheism.

Scientology.

Catholicism.

Islam.

Judaism.

Christian Science.

Buddhism.

Hinduism.

Sikhism.

Bahai Faith.

Mormonism.

Jehovah’s Witness.

The International Church of Christ

Naturalism.

Humanism.

Etc.

Followers of all of these all find their sense of self worth and justification from their own merit. What they have done or are going to do.

They have room to boast and be prideful and look down at others because its all about what they’ve done.

Christianity is the only one that says our sense of self worth is found in God’s view of us. And His view is not based on our actions but on His love. Man is sinful and unable to please God apart from Christ

The worlds religions have prophets who tell people about the path to get closer God or Enlightenment or Happiness or whatever.

Christ is the only one who claims to be God Himself drawing close to us.

Paul got this. It was all about Christ not himself.

James on authentic faith

2008-05-30T12:01:00.004-10:00

James has long been one of my favorite books. Whenever a new believer asks
me what books to start with in the bible I often point first to John then James and then 1 John.

My family has a history steeped in Catholicism and growing up in Simi Valley I had many opportunities to speak with Mormons both as my neighbors and as missionaries. Both faiths use James 2 as an example of scripture pointing to a works based salvation. And one can easily see why they came to that conclusion based on this chapter alone. In numerous places it says that we are justified by works and faith alone. But when read objectively, taking into account the rest of the book we see a clear picture. James is not even close to being antithetical to the message of Paul in his epistle to the Romans. In fact, when understood correctly it is a perfect complement.

Faith necessarily produces good works. Faith = Works.
The equation cannot be reversed.
Good works produce nothing in and of themselves.

A true authentic faith will be manifested through works.
Faith without works is then indeed dead because it is not a true and saving faith. It is a false hope. It is a mere intellectual assent to certain truths about God but it never makes that proverbial leap from the mind to the heart.

As pastors, teachers and preachers we must never preach the Gospel and then say, “Ok, you’re good to go. See you later.” The call is to make disciples not merely “converts”. And a disciple is one who follows in the footsteps of their teacher meaning that their works, actions, thoughts, mirror that of their teacher. In our case, our teacher is the God of the universe. We are a mirror reflecting his image and we must reflect well. Sin came and shattered that mirror. Christ came and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and begin the process of rebuilding that mirror until that day when we meet Christ face to face and that mirror will be made whole. Imago dei.

All praise and honor be to God.

Preachy?

2008-05-30T12:01:00.003-10:00

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:14-17
___
        Paul does something very interesting here. He takes the usual road of faith and he flips it. He gives it to us backwards. Instead of: God sent preachers -> They preached -> People Heard -> People believed; Paul takes us down the natural backwards progression of questions. How can they believe if they have not heard -> How can they hear if nobody preaches -> Who will preach if they are never sent. But he leaves the next logical step out which would be “How can they be sent if there is no God to send them?“
        Why wouldn’t he walk us through the entire progression? Why stop there? Why assume that the people that would hear his message believed in a god. The reason was most likely that most people did in fact believe in some sort of deity. But in verse 16 we see that he is not just talking simply about belief in God but about the Gospel; about Jesus.
        Now assuming that we believe in God I think the next question that we need to ask is ”Who is sending preachers out?“
        In today’s world there is no shortage of people that think they have a message that everyone needs to hear. Whether it be global warming and green living, how to get rich fast and stay that way, gay marriage and a woman’s choice and so many others. They may not want to be called preachers but they certainly are preaching. Al Gore is a preacher. Barack Obama is a preacher. Oprah Winfrey is a preacher.
        The very idea of preaching at is one of the current generations most hated ideas. A speech will often be premised by, ”I don’t mean to be preachy but...“
        Preaching has been turned into a negative idea because of the form that it has taken over the years and the current generation’s understanding of truth. When one preaches a message they are unequivocally saying that they believe their position is the correct one. And the rest are false. Even if they preface their messages with statements like, ”I am just one person in a much larger discussion.“ or ”Everyone has their own truth but...“
        And when truth claims are given to a generation that say they don’t believe in truth except for their own than it makes it very hard to win over hearts (unless of course your message is supported by the mainstream media and Hollywood). Especially if your message is one that is counter cultural, which in the case of Christ, will always be.
        Many try to engage the culture so much that they end up being the ones engaged. Meaning that the culture infiltrates not only their style of worship and services, but the very core beliefs of their message. The substance is lost for the sake of relevance. When this happens, what we see is a bunch of churches pursuing social justice and global responsibility preaching that this was Jesus’ main message. That the church’s job was to bring the kingdom of heaven down here by loving on others.
        Don’t get me wrong. This type of service to others in and of itself is not wrong by any means. I think that this type of service should be typical of all churches in America. However if the very heart of the Gospel is not preached which is God’s redemptive work through Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross for the salvation of sinners from God’s wrath (Romans 2,3:21-26), then what that produces are vibrant, energetic, philanthropic, culturally hip yet spiritually dead congregations.
”For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)
I have too many thoughts to write in one posting but I will continue later...

God's glory; Our joy

2008-05-30T12:01:00.002-10:00

"God is most glorified when His people are most satisfied in Him.”

This is one of John Piper’s most famous statements through his work at
Desiring God. He has said it almost every time I have heard him speak.
And rightly so because this is the crux of why we were created. It is
our purpose here on earth. And yet it seems like we generally run away
from this concept. People like Richard Dawkins hear this phrase and
are disgusted. They see it as a true depiction of a megalomaniac that
we call God. A selfish, egocentric, angry being that allows all kinds
of pain and chaos to happen to his creation. This breaks my heart.
These people have such a twisted view of the Biblical God that it
negates the entire phrase. God is not glorified and people are trying
to find satisfaction in everything else but Him.

So does this really make sense? Is God really so passionate about His
own glory. Is His outlook really that self-centered?

I would answer yes.

But how could God be so passionate and centered on Himself and not be
a megalomaniac?
How he be so into himself and not be narcissistic and an egomaniac?

When this statement is viewed upon the backdrop of all God’s
attributes that answer becomes clear.

Because God loves us he wants the best for us. He wants us to have the
one thing that will ultimately satisfy; ultimately fulfill. He wants
to make that one thing so glorious and so awe inspiring that we would
be drawn to it. He does this through people that have already attained it;

people that have already tasted what it means to be truly satisfied; people

that know what it means to be joyful in all circumstances. People that have

finally realized that everything else that they try to find fulfillment and

satisfaction in is wanting of any lasting significance.

And that one thing that provides all of this is not a thing at all. In
fact is a person. In fact it is God himself.

People often miss the point of the Gospel. They think that eternal
life, or being saved form hell is the prize. They think that because
they are saved they will have better lives. They look at the
peripheral benefits of God’s grace and completely miss the point.

The point is we get God. Period.

Everything else is just fluff. Just a side note. So when God is
glorified it is to the benefit of His people and it comes through a
heart motivated by love.

When I think of self glorification I often think of selfish people
like Donald Trump or some other famous person only looking to get more
glory for themselves and I think, “What an idiot.” or “That’s just
demonic.” The world looks down on supposed selfish gain even though it
is exactly what everyone is doing. So when they hear about God’s
desire to glorify Himself they freak out. And so it is my job to make
much of Him. So that people would see that and start to worship and
glorify Him and then in turn lead others to do the same.

As Pastor Gary always says, make God famous. But by doing so, know
that His glory loves on us because He is what is for our best.

Preaching to entertain? May it never be.

2008-05-30T12:01:00.001-10:00

Tonight I had the opportunity to speak at Growing Deep/Growing Strong
(GDGS). New Hope’s membership class. I was given the topic
‘Salvation’. They gave me the outline and the accompanying scriptures
and told me that I had 20 minutes to preach. This was a topic that I
had spoken about at previous GDGS’s. However, this time I had this
nagging conviction. While preparing for the message, I found that each
point was chock full of necessary, God glorifying material. The points
were as follows.

1. Who God is.
- God is love.
- God is holy.
- God is just.

2. Who we are.
- We were created good but became evil.
- We deserve to die.
- We are spiritually helpless.

3. The Significance of Christ.
- He was God and also man.
- He became our substitute.
- He offers us eternal life as a free gift (grace).

4. Our responsibility. (What do we do with Jesus.)

As you can see each of these points could easily be a year long sermon
series!! SO what was I to do. I didn’t want to simply skim over some
topics for the sake of time. There were definitely people there
tonight that had said yes to Jesus but had no idea what that meant.
They had no idea what implication that had on how they should live
their lives. And so in preparing for the message I prayed and typed
and prayed some more and typed some more. I tried to allow more of the
Spirit to guide the direction of the sermon rather than me.

So I decided that I would preach what I had prepared and not skimp on
any subjects. Long story short, I went for 50 minutes instead of the
allotted 20 minutes. I got off the stage with some of the staffers
looking very annoyed at me. But I got off that stage with a peace in
my heart, still hoping and praying that the words that proceeded from
my mouth had glorified God and cut into some hearts.

Afterwards I got the usual “Good job up there.”, “Great message.”.
Some were convicted and told me so. Some were surprised that God
pursues us not necessarily for our own good but more for His glory.
Then I got the most random comment I had ever received, “I was very
entertained. Thank you very much. Very entertaining.” Did this lady
not get it? I had just told her how horrible her sins are to God. How
huge and perfect and loving and terrible our God can be. I just finished
telling her how desperate she should be for God instead of trying to
find satisfaction and purpose in other things. And she was entertained
by that?!?

May it never be again. I pray that the Lord would not let me utter
another word that would simply entertain someone. Biblical preaching
is not about entertainment and how much people laugh at your jokes.
Although humor is an awesome tool to get into people’s hearts,
stirring up affections, emotions in people’s hearts for God is what
it’s all about. My pastor from back home in Simi Valley, CA once told
us that every preacher has a choice to make. Whether they want to be a
good preacher or a powerful preacher. Good preachers work on
communication skills, story telling, humor etc. All good things. But
powerful preachers are ones that put down their pride and allow the
Holy Spirit to direct and guide and speak.

In the red (grace mentality vs. works mentality)

2008-05-30T12:01:00.000-10:00

“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth,

then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:

go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.

Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

Proverbs 6:1-5

___

This verse speaks about a pledge made between people. It pleads for urgency in resolving this pledge; in paying it off, that one might be free from the bondage of the debt. We read verses that say “save yourself”, “hasten” and “plead urgently”; it says that “you are snared in the words of your mouth,” It uses all of this intense rhetoric but gives no reason as to why this kind of debt would be a bad thing.

Verse 5 even likens us to an animal in the hands of a hunter. There is a sense of the immediacy of death in being indebted to someone.

Being indebted to someone means that we are subject to their desires. We are no longer free to follow God. They make our decisions for us. This is dangerous because they are not God. They are not wise. They are not righteous.

It doesn’t say it here in the passage but I think one implication of being free from a human debt is that we should rather be indebted to Christ.

If the epicenter of our worldview is ourselves than salvation becomes about how much we have. It becomes a works based mentality where our efforts have allowed us to gain some ground with God. Grounds to be able to say “no” when what we thing that what He is asking of us is too difficult or too large. Because salvation becomes about what we have done and no longer about what He has done we now somehow have rights.

But the truth is that we have a great debt to pay. Salvation has been given to us as a free gift. Most evangelicals would affirm this idea with a decided head nod and an “amen, praise the Lord“.

But do they really get it? Do we really get it? Do I really get it?

If Christ has imputed His righteousness on me freely than I truly have a great debt to pay. There can’t be anything that I have any right to say ”no” to. If I truly understand the gravity of His sacrifice than “no” is not an option. We can’t just obey Him on the small and easy things like being kind to our neighbors or serving on teams where we feel accepted and loved. Or even on the bigger more easily avoided sins like shoplifting and murder. I’m not really even talking about not committing sins. Because the opposite of sinning is not not sinning. It is in fact doing righteous things. Things of eternal worth. Hard calls like giving up our prized idols in order to feed the hungry or clothe the poor. Giving up our pride and self glorification in order to make much of Jesus.

___

Recently a friend of mine was offered to have a free baby sitter. But upon contemplating it he couldn’t conceive of receiving that service for free lest he get a late night call asking for his help in buying a car. All right. I know that this is an exaggeration but the principle is the same. If he didn’t do or give something to earn that service than she could have asked for anything.

So it is with God’s grace. If we had any part in our salvation; if our own actions somehow earned us some merit than we would have some ground to stand on in saying “no” to God’s calls. But as it stands we have none. Since our salvation is completely based on faith in God’s grace as a free gift; nothing earned than He can ask for anything and we have no right to say no. Yet we still act like we don’t have to. Like we are somehow a citizen of heaven who has paid our taxes which earns us some right to say no to the governing authority. But His Lordship is supreme and His grace is not only sufficient but the only thing necessary for our salvation. And thus we must obey. There is no thing too large for Him to ask for. We owe him our lives.

“For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

And being indebted to Christ is not the same as being indebted to people. He is righteous. He is wise. He does love us. He does want the best for us. He can deliver and will deliver on His promises. The more we get this part of the Gospel the more God will be glorified and the more joy we will have when we can free from serving God’s created things and have the freedom to serve the only Uncreated one. When it comes to Christ we are always in the red. We can never give enough to pay our debt back. But praise God that through His grace he has paid that debt for us.

___

Lord,
I am a great sinner and you are a great savior. Thank you for reconciling me to yourself. Help me to feel the weight of your sacrifice daily that I might live as one indebted to a righteous King. I gladly place my life in your hands. Ask what you will God. And I pray that you will continually work on my heart as well as my wife’s that we might say yes rather than no.

In Jesus name, amen.

“Spiritual Smirutual…” - catching the vision

2008-05-30T12:00:00.000-10:00

“12And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13"Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.' 14Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise."

16And they answered Joshua, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous."”

[ Joshua 12-18 ]

In this passage we see that Joshua had been given the mantle of leadership of the Israel people. God had given him the charge:

        “’Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all         this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.’”

                                                        - Joshua 3:2

And Joshua, having been Moses assistant, caught that vision quickly. He knew exactly what he needed to do. And as we see in the rest of the passage he took charge and “…commanded the officers of the people, 11"Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, 'Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'"

Then we see him reminding the Reubenites, the Gadites and the tribe of Manasseh of their oath that they had made to Moses. And he passed down the vision of taking the land that the Lord had promised. He passed on all that the Lord had given him and made it clear as day as to what they had to do. They caught the vision. As we see above in verses 16-18, they were on board and were ready to go. The vision was clear and they were encouraged to obey the Lord and obey Joshua, the Lord’s chosen leader over His people.

I have always struggled with vision. At New Hope it seems that vision is constantly being pushed. We have to have vision, we have to catch the vision, we have to cast the vision. But what is it? To your average churchgoer it might sound like a supernatural occurrence where you receive this vision from the Lord in a dream and then wake up knowing exactly what you need to do. I know that I used to think that growing up.

But I also know that just because it does not come in the form of a dream or an actual vision form the Lord it does not mean it is not supernatural.

In the quest to be balanced and theologically correct in their own estimation I think too many people have gone astray in thinking that experience has nothing to do with Christianity. They rely solely on their own abilities and are dreadfully frightened of the more spiritual aspects of life in Christ. Yet the very reason we have a relationship with Christ in the first place is the Holy Spirit. To be sure there are fanatics who take the “spirituality” and the “experience” of Christianity to new levels never mentioned in the Bible. But let us never forsake our relationship with the Spirit of God for the sake of distancing us from that sort of extra biblical fanaticism. He is as the bible describes Him, our guide, mentor, teacher and friend. He is the one that passes on the vision we are to have as leaders.

In sitting down and hashing out the vision that God has for our ministry we must include Him in the process or else it becomes our vision and our ministry. It becomes about how visionary we are and it becomes about our leadership gift. But let it never be. We never want to take the glory from God and so we must always give the chance to work through us. He will never force us to obey Him because he wants our true worship and obedience.

In writing sermons and prepping for messages and even right before I open my mouth to preach I pray to God that the words coming out of my mouth are His words to the people. That the things I prep for are what He wants His people, including me, to catch.

Yet even in praying this I don’t think that what comes out of my mouth are just forced words from God being released through me, the vessel. If they were, He might as well use a radio. He could even speak through a demon for that matter. But what does occur is that, as I commune with Him daily and He implants emotions and affections in my heart about Him and His word, His character and His desires become clear. Feelings of thankfulness, admiration, glory, repentance and others that define my relationship with Christ form the base. And out of that base a message takes form. Words that stem from those emotions, come out of my mouth and its those words combined with the workings and impressions of the Holy Spirit upon my heart that create an effective and authentic message form the Lord.

Now how do I take that principle and apply it to vision. When working out vision I too often try to go it alone.

Joshua’s vision for the people was directly given by the Lord. But in casting that vision upon the people he communicated it through the heart that he had for the Lord. His passion, his zeal and his earnestness came through. God used everything that was Joshua to communicate His plan. Again he could have just used a rock to speak to the people. But he didn’t.

God commanded Joshua to keep His word in his heart.

        This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate         on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is         written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have         good success.
                                                        - Joshua 1:8

This was not for posterity’s sake. It was to encourage, bless and protect His people. It was to keep Joshua’s heart in line with His.

We must do the same.

So as we as leaders go about building a vision let’s not forsake the supernatural. Let’s stick close to Jesus and imbed and meditate on His Word.

The clear vision makes decision making easy. And so we must allow the Holy Spirit to implant that vision into our hearts by meditating on His word and His relation to us. So that our decisions which greatly affect others whether we know it or not are in line with the will of God.

God, I pray that you would continue to draw me in. Forgive me for the times when I’ve tried to go it alone. It was never Joshua’s vision, or Moses’ vision. It was always yours. Help me to keep the communication lines clear by sticking close to you. Let no one ever say, “What great vision Leon has for the ministry.” Rather, let all the glory go to you.
In Jesus name, amen.

God in our image?

2008-05-30T11:56:00.001-10:00

Most of us have heard or read of the story of David and Bathsheba.
David committed adultery because he was blinded and enticed by his lust and more than likely (the scriptures don’t say) he was drunk off his own pride and power that he thought he could get away with it. And by all accounts he did. The people that would have known were either dead or silenced by fear. He was scot-free. Except for the fact that God is all knowing.

Last night I spoke to a small group of high school students about the fact that at any given moment we could be face to face with the lord owning up to our sins. And how that reality needs to dictate every on of the choices that we make.

But after leaving the house and thinking more on the subject, I came to the realization that we are already face to face with God. We are already held accountable for our actions. He sees everything we do and think. That is the reality that we need to live with. David unfortunately lost sight of this fact.

He thought that he had made it; that no one would ever find out; that his dark secret was hidden away. But God had other plans. He revealed David’s sin to Nathan the prophet and he then went straight away to King David and had an audience with him. He used a parable of a king who doesn’t want to take any of his own sheep to entertain a guest and so he forcibly takes a lamb that a family raised and deeply loved. He paralleled this to David and Bathsheba and then told David of God’s impending judgment. And David responded with these words, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Then Nathan responded, “The Lord has put away your sin, …”

David’s repentant heart leads to God’s forgiveness. Weird how that works. Then we see David entreating God on behalf of his unborn child. He had already been told that the child would die yet he knew that God was a God of grace. Showing mercy to those undeserving of it.

The thing is it didn’t work. The child dies and here is where things start to get interesting. Instead of reacting to the death of his child the way that everyone expected him to, David gets up, cleans himself off and then eats a meal.

The servants are bewildered. They are taken aback by this response and it is because of the simple fact that they do not know the Lord as David does. Intimately.

Oftentimes, when God doesn’t come through the way we think or want him to, we react in the exact way the world would react. In the midst of the pain we ask God why? We think that our circumstances give us a reason to disobey God’s word when he says “rejoice always.” The worry and stress and amount to us trying to rush the Lord, “Come on God, show up already.” But the Bible says wait on the Lord.

The more we know God. Not the more we know of God or the more we know about God. But the more we know God than our expectations of him become more biblical and less “manlical“. The big one for me is that God is sovereign. Kind of like knowing and trusting as a child that my step-dad had everything under control and wanted our family’s best. Granted that probably wasn’t the truth. But we know that it is true with the Lord. A proper understanding (or at least what he allows us to grasp) of His sovereignty against the backdrop of his love should assure us. It allows us to live like David lived. To rest in his grace.

The Sign of Jonah

2008-05-30T11:54:00.001-10:00

“‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ So he left them and departed.”

- Matthew 16:4

In this passage we see two different groups with two sets of beliefs, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, coming to Jesus united in their goal of demeaning the Son of God. They demanded a sign from Him to prove that He was heaven sent. Their hearts were not ones that truly desired to seek God. Rather, they were seeking to disprove and disqualify Jesus. They were looking for a reason to not believe.

Jesus then retorts back with this comment calling them and evil and adulterous generation. He then says this line form the Old Testament, referring to Jonah. All of them would have known exactly what this passage was about. They most likely would have had it memorized word for word. Yet in their piety they had completely missed the point.

So what did Jesus mean when He said that the only sign will be the sign of Jonah? He could have referred to countless other examples from the Old Testament. But he specifically chose this one.

Now almost every single one of the kids at Ignite knows the story of Jonah. They have mental pictures of a whale swallowing him up and then spitting him back out on shore. But they have no idea what the story truly was about or how it applies to them today. This is the equivalent of the understanding of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Who although had eyes, were blind and ears, were still deaf.

So what is the sign of Jonah and how did apply to the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Earlier in Matthew we see what this “sign of Jonah” means. Chapter 12 verses 38-45 of Matthew show us 2 different aspects of this sign. The first is a parallel of Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish with Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. The other aspect is the people of Nineveh standing up at the time of judgment condemning that generation. He says that these people repented by the mere words of Jonah and now here was one greater than Jonah. Jesus.

But they were truly blinded by their own piety. I have heard it said that all sin is rooted in pride and selfishness. Two things that the Pharisees and the Sadducees surely had.

However, the book of Jonah, besides being a foreshadow of God’s mercy upon those who fear Him and repent, mostly tells the story of a man who knew God intimately; a man who knew that God was a god of compassion. In fact, when God told him to go to Nineveh he ran away, not because he was scared to tell the message of God’s coming wrath but because he knew that God would relent and show compassion if they repented.

He didn’t want to be used as an instrument to bring those people to repentance. He felt that they deserved God’s wrath and he resented the fact that God would have mercy on them.

Even after the people of Nineveh repented, Jonah sat down next to Ninenveh to “see what would become of the city.” He couldn’t let it go.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees, like Jonah, believed that they were the only ones worthy of God’s mercy. And when Jesus showed compassion on others, even Gentiles, they resented it.

This goes beyond talks of Arminianism vs. Calvinism or Limited atonement vs. General atonement. This was not a theological debate about the nature of God’s grace.

This speaks more to a selfish heart that makes the Gospel about man’s merit or “worthiness” to receive grace rather than being about God’s simple pleasure in showing grace to whom He chooses and loves. This negates the true of meaning of grace and becomes man-centered.

Applying this to ministry, sometimes we see people that we deem as “great sinners” in the church receiving compassion and blessings from the Lord. And too often we become indignant. We limit God’s grace to ourselves.

“Why is “so and so” allowed to serve?”
“Who let “so and so” in here?”

And instead of having a heart of love that seeks to reconcile that person we shun them out of the body. Yet it is God’s compassion for the people of Nineveh that prevailed when fear and repentance entered the picture.

As leaders, our primary objective should be to always seek to communicate the message of God’s grace and mercy through fear and repentance first. God is more glorified through wolves becoming sheep rather then when wolves are beat down by the shepherd’s staff.

Of course if that message is not received and sin continues to seek and destroy those of the flock then by all means protect your flock and come out swinging. All seasoned with little bit of grace of course.

Dear Jesus,
Help to know full and well the depravity of my own nature and where you have pulled me up from that I may never judge and act first without first fulfilling the call to preach your grace. I love you.

In Jesus name amen.

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2008-05-30T11:53:00.001-10:00

Today I was reading the ENT and studying for our quiz and I read the part about Merrill C. Tenney and the verse that he had written underneath his signature to that young student.

        “But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he
        shrinks back, I will         not be pleased with him.”

                                        - Hebrews 10:38

I then went back and reread Hebrews 10. And my eyes became fixated on verse 31, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” This might very well be the first time that I have fully understood what it means to fear the Lord. Unfortunately, although hearing about the fear of God and even wrestling with the thought of fearing one who loves me, my picture of God has been incomplete. I do not believe that most churches today do service to our God when we do not speak also of his wrath. I had a conversation the other day with a fellow Pac Rim student about a few lines from Rob Bell’s book Velvet Elvis.

        In heaven, there are people that God forgives and that he loves.
        In hell, there are people that God forgives and that he loves.

I argued that without repentance than there is nor forgiveness of sins and that there is only wrath stored up for the sinner.

This student then went on a postmodern rant about how that was my interpretation of the scriptures. God’s love had been so ingrained in his mind through what he has been taught at various churches that he held God’s love as His highest attribute. But I retorted back that none of God’s attributes are higher than the others; in fact his holiness, wrath, justice and others are all equal.

The conversation ended there as we both had other pressing engagements. But my mind kept thinking upon the fact that the “church” today has skewed the biblical view of God in order to be “relevant” to today’s emerging culture. But I would argue that by doing so they have become increasingly irrelevant because what they preach, even if it is touching many hearts is not the full truth. The danger is that God is not glorified to His utmost. The fear and reverence that He requires of us His people is being replaced with a warm fuzzy feeling (which is also good but not complete). And thus man is raised up as the object of God’s love and affection rather than God being the object of our love, affection, fear and reverence.

When I was young I had a fear of cats because every time one came near it would dig its claws into my thigh. That’s why I will never own one.
In the same way “cats” have dug their claws into my thinking while growing up in church.

Oh God, please forgive me for taking so long to realize what true fear is. Help me to never, ever forget.

Godly Confidence - 1 Samuel 17:31-37

2008-05-30T11:51:00.000-10:00

31When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32And David said to Saul, "Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." 33And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth." 34But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." 37And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"

1 Samuel 17:31-37

David was the man. Every time that I read this chapter, chills flow down my spine as I read the words that come out of his mouth. His lines are better than Mel Gibson’s lines in Braveheart and better than Eric Bana’s lines in Troy. They are better than any movie line out there trying to prepare their troops for battle because his proclamation is not rooted in his own ability to fight. Even though he recounts the times when he struck down lions and bears and he uses a first person narrative to explain his actions, he gives context here in his last sentence, “The Lord who delivered me form the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear…” He knew the source of his strength and victory and he was confident in that.

God had raised him up to be a man’s man. But not the kind of man’s man that we think of today. He was the kind of man that was so confident that the Lord would rescue him that he was not afraid to take on anything or anyone.

He had grown up protecting the sheep of his father’s household from all manner of predators and now here he was read to take on yet another predator trying to take out the sheep of his Heavenly father. And God had prepared him for this day. He had a keen awareness of the Lord’s presence in battle.

He had become adept at using his sling. He had fought seemingly impossible battles against beasts that built up his confidence in the Lord’s ability to save and be victorious. And now he stood ready to fight again on the Lord’s behalf and he could not understand why everyone else was scared to go out and fight. After all, the Lord was behind them.

Sometimes we are faced with challenges that are seemingly insurmountable. And in those times we have a choice. Do we act and think like David who had seen God’s provision time and time again and so then took action with the confidence of the Lord as his source of strength. Or do we cower and wait for somebody else to step up to the plate.

There are things that we are all called to do. But if we lollygag and sit on our laurels instead of taking action because of our insecurity in the Lord, He will raise somebody else up in our place.

On the battlefield that day David saw something that had to be done. Not necessarily defeat the giant or drive out the Philistines, but bring glory to the name of God. Verses 46 and 47 tell us that David went out “…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with a sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s,…”

When wait to take action because of fear we are effectively saying that our God is not big enough to take on what ever is in front of us.

Can you hear me now?

2008-05-30T11:49:00.000-10:00

Scripture:

“1Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision…6And the Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ and Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am , for you called me.’ But he said, I did not call, my son; lie down again.’7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.8…Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the young man.”

1 Samuel 3:1-9

Observation:

Samuel was the new guy. Eli was the priest. He was the one that had heard voices and seen visions in the past. Yet now here God was speaking directly to Samuel. This was effectually saying that God was now going to work through Samuel instead of through Eli. Yet Eli, in his humble and submissive heart was willing to teach Samuel how to respond to God.

“Speak, Lord, for you servant hears.”

Eli could have been defensive. He could have chosen to respond with a bad attitude and feeling of displacement. But we see here that he had a healthy fear and reverence for the Lord. He recognizes that God was calling Samuel. And he does not want to stand in the way. In fact he want to help Samuel hear and follow that calling.

Samuel had not yet heard the Lord directly and so he could not yet discern between Eli’s voice and the voice that he heard that night. Verse 1 says, “the word of the Lord was rare in those days;” and verse 7 says that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord.” And so because He was unacquainted with the Lord’s ways he did not recognize His call.

Upon waking up it says that he is scared to tell Eli the word of the Lord. This was the first testing of his role as prophet, to impart the Lord’s word to the people. There would be much harsher words to come. And so Eli was quick to teach Samuel that he should never hold anything back of what the Lord had commanded him to proclaim no matter how harsh for as he said “it is the Lord…”

Application:

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Thinking back to when God first called me I remember that It wasn’t a crisp, clear voice. I didn’t have a vision or a dream in the middle of the night. Yet it was clear calling on my life. But that calling did not come to fruition until 9 months ago. For 3 long years I tried to rationalize the call. I tried to convince myself that what I was hearing was from a different source. Maybe it was just my own thoughts or other people’s expectations.

But when I really started to grow and draw closer to God through His word I began to know Him. I mean really know Him. Not know everything about Him. But just know Him in relation to me. God as my sovereign, all knowing, Lord, Savior, Father, Friend, Teacher, Creator, Provider. And as I drew closer to Him, His voice became more and more clear.

The thing that gets me is that God never gave up on calling me. No matter how many times I tried to rationalize the calling as wishful thinking or just a ‘what if’ moment He stilled pressed on in my heart. And then when I responded to that call with a submissive heart He was faithful to provide what I needed to fulfill that call. People to come alongside me and encourage me and point me back to the Lord.

As leaders we need to be so close to the Lord; experiencing Him everyday. So that when we see others being called we can easily recognize it as God and point and encourage them towards that direction. We need to train our eyes and ears to see evidences of God’s call in other people’s lives. The best way to do that is to be in a constant conversation with Him and get to know his voice; his ways. And make sure that we clearly know when He calls us.

Prayer:

Lord,
Help me to have a mind and heart that is focused on you. Help me to know you more so that when you call me and others I can clearly know its you. Help me never to second guess but just to follow at your first call. I love you Lord. Thanks.

In Christ’s name Amen.

Walking the Line - Joshua 22:19

2008-05-30T11:48:00.002-10:00

“But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land where the Lord’s tabernacle stands and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God.”

- Joshua 22:19

Israel had finally taken over the Promised Land through the power of the Lord. We see it written that there was peace on all sides; along every border. And so now the peoples of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe Manasseh, which came to fight alongside their people, were returning over the Jordan to the land which was given to them by God through Moses before Israel entered the land to fight for it’s purity.

They left with Joshua and the peoples’ blessing and started their journey. As they neared the Jordan where they would then cross out of the borders of the land that God had promised. There they built an altar to be “a witness between” them and the rest of God’s people, that the Lord is God. They put it there so that the generations to come will always remember the God that they worship and so that the people across the Jordan will not think that they have abandoned God. They had the best of intentions.

But Israel has had a long history of being entangled into other cultures and allowing foreign influences to sway them away from the one true God.

And so the people of Israel, upon hearing about this altar, sent Phinehas and 10 tribal chiefs to check on what was happening and to get them back on track with the Lord. Even though they had fought side by side to purify the land they were not going to take the chance and thus bring down God’s wrath again. And rightly so.

Praise God that the altar was made with good intentions and the right heart. But if it had not, then the entire people of Israel would have paid the price.

They even offered them the chance to return to the land and take a possession amongst the people that they might not fall into this sin.

The peoples of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe Manasseh were walking the line. God had set clear physical boundaries for his people. Within those boundaries were God’s people that were dedicated to staying close to Him and following his ways. But all of the filth that was there previously had now either been eliminated or forced out. Outside of the boundary lines were people who worshipped idols, performed immoral acts and everything else that went against what God had taught His people. And so it was natural to think, because of their past, that as the people neared it’s borders and mixed with other people that they would have strayed.

God has also set boundaries with our actions, our thoughts and our words. Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians about a few of the most important boundary lines. The lines that are clearly marked to make sure that we are within where God wants us to be and that is that we need to make sure that within our freedom in Christ, everything we do is to the Glory of God and that what we do does not cause others to stumble. Another boundary line that we read a lot of is love.

As Christians we need to stay well within the boundary lines that God has set for us, his people. If we play along that line, if we are on the fence, then we are more apt to be influenced by things that do not glorify Him.

Another thing that the bible talks about is the reputation of his people. As leaders, that call to guard our reputation is even higher. And if we play that fence than we should expect others to come and check on us. We should not be defensive and offended when others question our integrity.

We need to be above reproach. And that means that we need to stay as far from the fence as possible and not try to see how close we can get to the line. We now have freedom in Christ which means that through our regenerated hearts and the work of the Holy Spirit we now are free to choose to stay as far inside the boundaries as we can. We are free to choose the right as the Mormons say.

Lord,
Forgive for my sins when I played with your boundary lines. In the name of freedom I stained your name and so I’m sorry and I repent. Help me to stay well within your boundaries that I might misrepresent you to others and that I might not fall into temptation. I love you Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Judges 11:30,31

2008-05-30T11:48:00.001-10:00

“30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering."

[ JUDGES 11:30,31 ]

        We often read passages in the bible and are immediately and completely taken aback. This passage is no exception. We think to ourselves, “Is this really the same God?”, “How could he allow this?”

        Jephthah offered his daughter as a burnt offering.

        Yet as we read, it wasn’t God who asked this of Jephthah but Jephthah himself that made this vow.

        This is when we ask, “What was he thinking?” or we say “What an idiot!” His if-then statement was a vow that was contingent upon the Lord coming through for His people. “If you will give…?” Was he trying to bargain with God? What did he anticipate would come out from his doors to meet him? A goat? Did he not know that his only daughter or another human being would be the one to welcome the victorious warriors home?

        From a human standpoint this whole scene seems wrong. It hurts our gut. It wrestles with our values. It makes us pause and question.

        Did we really just read that? He just offered his daughter as a burnt offering to the Lord.

        Yet from her words we can tell that she loved the Lord and was willing to follow Him no matter what that meant. She knew that her father had made a vow to the Lord and she would rather have seen that vow fulfilled; her father honor his promise to God than save her skin.

        Yet we find consolation in believing that this life is temporary and that the coming glory is far more supreme than the sufferings of this world.

        But the consequence of Jephthah’s rash vow was still his daughter’s death.
        So we see that what matters more is honoring that vow rather than what seems right.

        Sometimes we make those same rash vows today. “God, if you … then I will …” But we should stop and think before making those vows. Psalm 50 tells us that God lacks nothing and does not need to ask for anything. What he desires more than these sacrifices is a contrite and thankful heart. He shouldn’t have to do anything for our affection and devotion.

        Do we need to make these vows? It seems that these vows are more for our benefit and our motivation, than it is for God.

        We need to put away these senseless vows because they are conditional vows. If-then.

        Our devotion to God should not be contingent upon how much He does of what we want Him to do for us. Our devotion to Him should however be out of a thankful heart because of what He has done and what He promises to do.

        Past grace through Christ on the cross and future grace with Him in heaven. Remembering what He saved us from; why He did it; what he is going to do.

        Christ died and rose for our sins. He took our place. He saved us form hell. He promises us eternal life and an everlasting inheritance as children of God. He lets us into His family.

“Oh, but if you do this for me God, then I’ll follow you.”

He did it already. We don’t need to vow anything to Him. Our acts of obedience need to stem from a heart of thankfulness and joyful anticipation. If we do them because God did something that we asked Him to do, then our obedience becomes conditional. What if He didn’t fulfill our expectations. What if His answer was ‘NO’?

Let’s make our motivation Christ. Not how God measures up to our expectations or requests.

Let’s remember what he has already done.

Because to do otherwise is ridiculous.

Know that you know that you know

2008-05-30T11:47:00.000-10:00

“I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
- Galatians 2:2-5

A false gospel had infiltrated the ranks of the brothers in Galatia just as it had earlier in Antioch. They were preaching a works based gospel which infuriated Paul and Barnabas and so there was “great dissension and debate” between these “false brothers” and Paul and Barnabas. So a contingent, including Paul and Barnabas, was sent to Jerusalem to get to the bottom of the truth.

And even Paul, having received the message of the Gospel not through interaction and debate with other disciples, but through a revelation from God and an enlightening of the scriptures through the Holy Spirit, was brought to doubt that message. He knew better than most the grace that Christ offers. In chapter one he quickly tells the Galatians his own conversion experience. For him it was not a conversion through a message preached by man. He had met Christ and Christ had implanted that message into Paul’s heart. His conversion was a true 180 degree turn. From killing those of the Way to being a man of the Way. And because people knew of this, they were praising God because of it.

What power the spoken word has; to cause doubt in this man.

Verse 2 says that Paul went up to Jerusalem “… in order to make sure I [he] was not running or had not run in vain.”

He goes on in verse 5 to say that he “did not yield in subjection to them even for an hour”. He was never carried away by their false gospel. But he seems to have had an inkling of doubt of the truth of the message that he was proclaiming. And so he was searching out the truth of the matter to ensure that he was representing Christ correctly. That was always his goal; to bring glory to Christ!

So they traveled to Jerusalem for the sake of the other believers that were being carried away and to “make sure that they had not run in vain.” Because if they could be saved by grace, than Christ’s sacrifice would have been for nothing.

They knew the gravity and influence that those in Jerusalem had over the church. And so they wanted confirmation of the truth of the gospel of God’s grace.

He had an unfailing devotion to the truth. It was a heart of love for the lost and an earnest desire to glorify Christ that urged Paul to fight for the truth.

And this truth was not a secondary truth. It was the agent of salvation. There are no gray lines when it comes to the Gospel.

And even as Peter was being hypocritical, Paul stood on truth and never faltered. He confronted him and brought him back to the cross.

The spoken word has power to change. Power to give life and the power to take it. Power unto light and power unto darkness. Power unto heaven and power to lead people towards hell.

The truth of spiritual gifts, gender roles in the body of Christ, eschatology etc.; these are all good things to think about but Paul drew the line at the Gospel.

There is no acceptable debate when it comes to the truth of the gospel of saving grace.

As preachers of God’s word we need to have an unfailing devotion to the truth. And as such we need to know what that truth is and ingrain it into our bones.

By virtue of our position, our words carry more weight. And as such we need to be sure that what we know is truth. We need to know where in the bible our truth comes from. We need to know that we know that we know that what we know is God’s truth.

But not truth for the sake of truth but for the sake of love and for God’s continued glory. Jonathan Edwards writes that truth and action without affection is nothing but legalism and God is not glorified.

When Paul confronted Peter on his hypocrisy he was not trying to correct him for the sake of being right. But he knew that if Peter did not live out his convictions and example the truth in his life then the power of the gospel to save and change lives would have been nullified. The power of not only Peter’s words but his own would have had a reverse effect, pushing people away from Christ and further confusing the gospel.

Deuteronomy tells us that the inheritance of the Levites was God. Well that inheritance is also available to us through Christ.

For those who have been called by God to preach his Word this passage has heavy implications. We are preaching an inheritance. Not necessarily a good life, happiness etc. But joy in the new birth as a child of God. That is our inheritance. Christ.

Preach truth and only truth.

And in this new world paradigm of post-modern thinking that calling and the need for that truth is ever stronger.

Father,
I thank you for your gift of grace both in the past and the grace that I look forward to in the future. Please instill in me a hunger for the truth as Paul had. Help me to have a clear mind and a humble heart as I approach your Word. I don’t presume to have a right to speak on your behalf and I thank you for allowing me to do so. Let no heresy ever be found in my words and my actions. Forgive me if there has ever been. I love you God.

In Christ’s name, AMEN.

Missional - Acts 26:28,29

2008-05-30T11:46:00.003-10:00

Acts 26:28,29:

        “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘Do you thing that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?’
        Paul replied, ‘short time or long – I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.’”

        Paul had just laid out his defense to King Agrippa. He told of his reputation and the persecution that he perpetuated against the Christians. And then he went into his conversion experience and explained that the prophets had prophesied that the Christ would come and suffer rather than be this victorious militant king.
        Paul did not go about his defense by trying to defend and justify his actions. He did not take a defensive position and try to weasel his way out of punishment. Instead he simply told the truth and stood his ground. And even in this oppressive setting when he was in chains and people were all around him ready to kill or imprison him he still went on with his mission to lead the lost to Christ. His entire purpose had never been to defend himself but to reach those that were listening to him. He was proclaiming the Gospel.

        How many opportunities do we have to share our faith? It seems that even us in ministry have a tendency to turn our faith off and on. I’m not saying that we don’t try our best to live consistent and balanced lives. But we often have chances to share our faith with people that we just let pass by.

        Yesterday I went to get a haircut. I had a prolonged time with my barber whom I have built a relationship with. This was far from the hostile environment of King Agrippa’s court. But still it had not crossed my mind to share with her.

        Last week I was on a plane twice sitting next to two people for 5 hours. And again I did nothing to share with them.

        We should be living missional lives meaning that we have been sent out as missionaries for Christ. As a youth pastor I have been called to minister to youth but I have an overall, prevailing calling on my life to witness to all. To have my radar turned on all the time to people that need Christ. I think we all need to live our lives with a sense of urgency.
        Working at a restaurant we always heard that term “sense of urgency” People would be standing around doing nothing when there was much to do. And then a manager would come by and just say “sense of urgency” and then we would all scramble and start getting to work.
        Well the Bible also tells us to have a sense of urgency; a sense of readiness for the Lord could come at any moment.

Numbers 34:1,2

2008-05-30T11:46:00.002-10:00

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to its borders.’”

[Numbers 34:1,2]

The Israelites had finally arrived at their inheritance, the promised land. Years of rebellion after rebellion against the Lord and after many years of wandering they had arrived.

Hurray!!

They had arrived in a dry land full of dust and enemies that wanted nothing but their destruction. They had to fight tooth and nail for every inch of that land. If God went out to war before and with them then they would be successful. But if they rebelled against God again he would remove His hand and they would fail. This was the nature of their inheritance. It was indeed given to them by the Lord but it came with a price.
From their perspective I imagine that they felt pretty good about themselves, after routing out their enemies. Oftentimes in the midst of success we think that we have accomplished much when in actuality we did nothing but be used by God. But if you think about it, what kind of inheritance is that?

Usually when people receive an inheritance they don’t have to put their blood, sweat and tears into it. How far they had fallen. The inheritance that the Lord intended was infinitely better than what they were now going to receive. The Lord created man perfect and had a perfect inheritance for them, to dwell in the Lord’s dwelling place forever. But due to sin the inheritance had dwindled down into this tiny parcel of land that came through much effort and pain.

How far we have fallen. Pre Christ our inheritance was hell. It is a place devoid of all good things; devoid of God himself. Eternal separation. But through Christ, praise the Lord our inheritance is once again God Himself. A relationship with Him that transforms our very nature and changes the course of our lives from being hell bound to being heaven bound. To being tied to the world to being tied to Christ. And now is the time to sell all that we have and buy that field where the treasure lies. With the reality of what we have been saved from and what we now look forward to, our hearts can only be thankful. We can only live lives that glorify Him. Or so we would like to say.

But it is an all too common reality that we forget about our treasure. We forget the new inheritance that we have been given. We forget about His saving grace.

I think that effect is unfortunately amplified in ministry. As we go about our day and we get busy doing “ministry” I think that we have a tendency to forget our first love, our treasure. That zeal and excitement that Jesus talks about that would cause a man to sell all that he has joyfully and then buy a field with a treasure in it.

Let’s never forget that. This application may not seem like the more practical devotions that I have written before, It might seem abstract and almost Christianese to say get back to heart, or remember your first love; Or perhaps this is the most practical thing that I could write about.

To do a quick heart check:
        Do I treasure Christ?

To remind myself:
        What is my inheritance?

In the midst of ministry this is the most important aspect. To keep our hearts correct. To remember what we are here for. Yes, to help people. Yes, to bring others to Christ. Yes, to make it fun and relevant to kids. But always with a pervasive theme that what we do is all for the Glorification of our God.

If we do all those things but our hearts are not correct then we dishonor God and He is not glorified by it.

        “13Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me         with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me         consists of tradition learned by rote, 14Therefore behold, I will once again deal         marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men         will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed."

                                                        - Isaiah 29:13

Let’s not force God’s hand. Let’s not wait for him to deal with us marvelously. Let’s bring glory to Him now. Out of our own volition. Let’s have that fear of God’s marvelous work.

Lord,
Forgive me for not treasuring you like I should. You are my treasure, my rock, my savior. Please glorify yourself through me and the ministry that you have entrusted to my hands. I love you and thank you for the opportunity.

In Christ’s name, AMEN.

Psalm 15

2008-05-30T11:45:00.000-10:00

Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

David starts off this Psalm with a couple of questions.

        “LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?”
        And
        “Who may live on your holy hill?”

The word dwell can also be translated into abide or sojourn. Basically it means to live or stay in the sanctuary of the Lord. This does not refer to priests and their duties in the sanctuary; where they go in and out. This speaks to a prolonged stay, a relationship.

A plumber might go in and out of your house as he does his work but one cannot say that he dwells in your house. He is simply performing a service.

But rather the word dwell connotes some form of relationship; where one is welcome to stay.

Then David creates a list of actions, not sacrificial ceremonies or mantras to be said but rather morally righteous acts. And he lists these as the answer to his initial queries.
And so I think that it’s reasonable to assume that these listed actions are not some arbitrary list or a set of laws like the 10 commandments. David’s list is a list of actions that come from a righteous heart. And so the issue that David is addressing is not so much the actions as it is the condition of the heart.

He ends his Psalm by stating “He who does these things will never be shaken.” But again, I don’t think that it is the action of “doing these things” that will make a man unshakeable. Rather it is the balanced mind and the heart that relies on God.

All of the things listed are things that might make life easier for a person in the short run. Lying, taking usury, taking bribes, doing wrong to your neighbor for self-gain, etc. All of these things are selfish ambitions that rely only on oneself which is obviously moveable.

Who can really do all of these things? I can’t even fathom saying that my way is blameless. But what I can do is make sure that the condition of my heart is a right one.

Genesis 20:11, 22:12

2008-05-30T11:44:00.001-10:00

Scripture:

“Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.'”

                                                - Genesis 20:11

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

                                                - Genesis 22:12

Observation:

Here in the first verse we see a hypocritical Abraham. He has ventured into this land and because his fear of man there was greater than his fear of God, he chose to lie and sin. Here we see the man called the Father of Faith stumble due to his lack of faith. He even blatantly says “There is surely no fear of God in this place…” But the lack of fear in God was in himself.

But two chapters and we see a transformed and obedient Abraham. Here we see him being tested by God. God wanted to test the condition of Abraham’s heart by asking him to sacrifice what was most important to him. Abraham must have been confused because this was the son that was promised to him as a miracle from the Lord in his old age; his only son with his wife Sarah. But he still obeyed the Lord to the very last moment. He knew now that God knew what was best for him and his family, even for his son. And so he obeyed. But what a heavy heart he must have had. His precious son was no doubt in dismay as he began to realize just what was happening. As his father tied him up, I wonder if he struggled. I cannot begin to imagine the anguish in Abraham’s heart as he raised that dagger. Yet his faith and fear of the Lord was greater than that pain.

But I wonder about the time between these two occurrences. On one hand we see a complete lack of fear and faith. But on the other hand we see a complete surrender to God through faith and fear and trembling. But what happened in between that caused this radical change? What caused God to become more and more real to Abraham? What caused this blind submission and utter fear and reverence of God?

In chapter 21 we see different events unfold. The birth of Isaac, the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, the treaty at Beersheeba.

We see the realization of a promise which no doubt strengthened his faith in God. We see the difficult decision to send away his first son and maidservant which was a decision based on faith in the comforting words of the Lord, “Do not be distressed…” Effectively telling Abraham that he will take care of them. And then we see Abraham taking a strong leadership role in the survival of his people. Stepping up to Abimelech with the fear of the Lord as his backbone. We see a gradual development of an awesome man of faith.

Application:

Many times as Christians, and especially as developing Christian leaders, we dwell too much on our shortcomings. I know that certainly rings true in my life. I look around at awesome men and women of God who seem to know it all. And in comparison I seem but a child in my own eyes. Yet I know that God has called me to be here, doing what I am doing. Much like Abraham’s calling as prophet, a father, a husband and a leader. He didn’t start off perfect nor did he finish perfect. But the important thing is that he was open to God working in his heart and through his life. If he had had a hard heart and wallowed in his lack of faith then when those circumstances happened his reaction would have been completely different and thus his development would have either been stifled or completely skewed.

What kinds of heart issues can keep us from experiencing life the way that God would want us to and developing the way that He intends?
What can cause us to miss out on the joy of glorifying God?

Pride.
Misplaced fear.
Anger.
Jealousy.
Misplaced faith.
Depression.

If we want to develop into the men and women that God wants us to be then we must be wary of these things and do a constant heart check. We must also remember what He has already done.

Looking back on how he has worked in my life thus far allows me to see clearly His hand on my life. They always say the hindsight is 20/20.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for the times when my fear of anything else was greater than you. I only want to serve you with complete obedience. Help me to guard my heart from attack from within.

In Jesus name Amen.

Pastor Rod:
God will provide opportunities to be authentic.
Innocent due to ignorance vs. integrity.

Steve:
Abraham’s faithfulness due to God’s faithfulness.
God is always first.

He called us first.
He found us first.
He loved us first.
_ _ _

Lost Coins

2008-05-30T11:44:00.000-10:00

“’Or suppose a woman has ten coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” In the same way, I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”’
- Luke 15: 8-10

Jesus was communicating the value that He places on sinners who repent. Here, he likens that value to that of a silver coin or drachma, which was equivalent to a full days wage. And he goes into the effort that He puts into finding them and bringing them back to Him. The woman called out to her neighbors when she found it and asked them to rejoice with her. This gathering could have easily cost more than the coin itself. And so from the world’s eye view this parable doesn’t make sense. But when applied in the spiritual sense and when set against the backdrop of a relationship with Jesus it makes perfect sense. The value that Jesus places on the lost and gaining that relationship back is more than anything else.

Jesus then gives us insight into the mindset of the angels in heaven as he says, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

David had this same joyful experience when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Israel. He could do nothing but dance for the Lord out of pure joy because The Ark had been restored.

I often have to check my heart as I go along in ministry. I start doing ministry and lose sight of the things that God truly values. Whenever I have been used by God towards or witnessed a salvation I have never brought people together to rejoice with us. When I have baptized someone, the gravity of that decision to be obedient to God sometimes does not hit me. And so I don’t rejoice.

A good friend of mine read his devotions aloud the other day and he said something that I have heard many times before. He spoke about success and what true success is. And even though I knew all of these things in my head I often base my success on other peoples’ views. When we do an awesome event, and lots of kids come and are stoked, and our team is rocking then somehow I feel good and joyful. And while all of these are definitely good things that we should rejoice, I need to get back to heart. Get back to why we do all of these things.

I need to find ways to get myself out of the funk of ministry work and tasks. And I believe that starts with what I value.

How much do I value salvations?
How much do I value those “I finally get it” moments?
To what ultimate end are all my efforts and energy going to?

Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for the times when I don’t place true value on the things that you value. For give me for sometimes just paying lip service to those victories but not truly rejoicing in my heart. Help me to have your heart for the lost. Help me to see people as you see them. I love you Lord.

-In Jesus name Amen.

Luke 2:49-51

2008-05-30T11:43:00.003-10:00

“’Why were you searching for me?’ he asked.’ Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom stature and in favor with God and men.”

- Luke 2:49-51

Jesus and his family had been on a journey. During this time they had stopped off in Jerusalem and then moved on. Mary and Joseph just assumed that He was somewhere in the caravan probably playing with the other kids. But even at 12 years old, Jesus was keenly aware of his role on the earth and his duty to God the Father. That is why he asked that question…”Didn’t you know…” But he was also called to live a perfect life and thus fell under the authority of his parents and the call to “Honor your mother and father”.

And so Jesus, even though he knew the ultimate purpose of his incarnation, also followed God’s moral will, to honor his parents.

Many times as Christians we can know our calling or our gifts. And we can use those things as an excuse to ignore the moral will of God. We see a need that needs to be met but because it does not fit into our original calling or we don’t have a gifting in that area we try to kick it off to someone else or some other ministry.

Starting up Ignite has been a hectic and tiring process. I have often had to perform tasks that did not necessarily have to do with my calling as a pastor. Other tasks were difficult and tiresome for me because I was not at all gifted in those particular areas.

But the truth is that even though those things did not align with my calling, I was still called to do them. Sometimes though, in my heart a battle is raging. I want to ask, “Don’t you know that I’m supposed to be doing such and such instead?”

Other situations include moral issues like speeding on the freeway to make it on time for church functions etc.

In contrast to Christ, he bible talks about something called ‘corban’ when a son or daughter forsook being obedient to their parents using God’s service as an excuse.
“Oh, I couldn’t take out the trash because I had to go to bible study.”
“Sorry, I didn’t have time to clean my room because we had an event.”

As ridiculous as that sounds we do the same thing with God.

“Sorry Lord, I couldn’t help that old crippled lady load her cart full of groceries into her car because the weekend service was tiring and I was just too tired.”

Following Christ needs to be consistent in all facets of life. Love needs to infiltrate every second of every day. It needs to be systemic in my attitude and lifestyle.

On the road or off. At home or at the office. At church or at Costco. The church parking lot or the UH parking lot.

Lord,
Please forgive me when I have not been consistent. Thank you for forgiveness in the past and the future. Please help me to be consistent in my calling as a follower of Christ no matter where I am.

In Jesus name Amen.

Consistent living

2008-05-30T11:43:00.000-10:00

“‘Abraham is our father,’ they answered. ‘If you were Abraham’s children,’ said Jesus, ‘then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.’ ‘We are not illegitimate children,’ they protested. ‘The only Father we have is God himself.’“

- John 8:39-41

Jesus was here debating with these Pharisees about their own spiritual state. From their perspective they were made righteous through their heritage. They make the claim that Abraham, known as the father of the Jews as well as the father of faith, is their father. But Jesus is quick to correct them. Their notion of what Abraham was all about was twisted.

They had missed the point. Abraham believed and because of his faith he was deemed righteous. Jesus was telling them that if they were truly of God and spiritual children of Abraham they would have the same faith that he had. Yet he brings into contrast their deeds versus the faith of Abraham. He then goes on to say that they act more like their own father than as descendants of Abraham, the father of faith.

They quickly retort back by claiming God as their father. Yet Jesus quickly corrects them by telling them that they are children of the devil.

Jesus knew their hearts and so he was able to make correct judgments on them. But their actions are just as telling. Here Jesus tells them that their actions reveal where they are truly from and that their true identity and lineage comes form the devil.

Oftentimes Christians can deceive themselves into thinking that because they have prayed the sinner’s prayer they can live their lives in whatever way they wish. They claim God as their father and Jesus as their savior but their lives do not reflect that claim.

So whose children are they really?
Is their claim any different from the one made by the Pharisees thousands of years ago?

Well, in a sense it is even more grave.

Claiming Jesus as our savior and then living opposite from that claim makes a mockery of Christ’s sacrifice, forsakes His Lordship over our lives and misrepresents His message to the rest of the world.

Being saved means becoming part of God’s family; becoming his child. And as such our actions need to line up with that relationship. The Pharisees in this passage claimed God as their father yet it was evident through their actions that that relationship was non-existent in their lives.

Working in ministry has taught me many lessons and I have grown greatly because of it. But perhaps one of the most important lessons learned has been the one of consistency. Living out my faith in a consistent way at church, at Ignite, at the office, at home, as a husband, as a brother, as a son, as a friend and whether I am in Hawaii or Seattle or Los Angeles. I need to be consistent. And the only way to be consistent is to stick close to my Lord. If it becomes real to me that God is right here next to me al the time then I will never have room for error. But when I forget, or rather choose to forget that He is there, I mess up. I stray. I become a hypocrite.

My life must be consistent with what I profess.

God,
Please help me to live consistently wherever I am at, in whatever situation I am in and in whatever relationship I am in. Help me to be a better son, brother, friend and husband. Please help me to be consistent.

In Jesus name amen.

What is our price?

2008-05-30T11:42:00.000-10:00

“Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, what are you willing you give me if I hand him over to you? So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”

                                                - Matthew 26:14-16

        What could Judas have been thinking? He had been side by side with Jesus and had been witness to countless miracles. Yet he sold Jesus out for 30 silver coins. The so-called “wasteful” use of the oil was the last straw that pushed Judas over the edge. He had given up everything to become a disciple of Jesus. And now Jesus was talking about being killed by those whom he provoked with his message. And now this lady uses her perfume which I have heard it said would be equivalent to about $45,000 today on Jesus instead of giving it to the poor; and rightly so. Jesus is quick to correct Judas’ priorities when he objects. Judas could not see the value because he did not see Jesus as the Son of God. His heart had been skewed and twisted by his own machinations and paradigm.
And so for 30 coins, which equates to about $15,000 today, he sold out Christ. He started the path that led to the cross.

        Many people read this and get angry. “What was he thinking?”, “How could he do such a thing?”. But the reality is that it wasn’t Judas’ actions that brought Christ to the cross. The thing that brought our God to humble himself in human form and then be crucified was sin. And it is easy to say this when we talk about the fallen nature of man and sin in general but I really think that we need to make it more personal. We need to take more responsibility for the crucifixion of our God. Why did He have to die? For that sin that we committed yesterday. For that sin that we are going to commit today. For that sin that we are going to commit tomorrow. Judas sin was the betrayal of Jesus and his price was 30 silver coins. What is our sin? And for how much to we commit it? What do we gain? Sometimes it is a fleeting pleasure, or some temporary financial gain. Sometimes we sin to make ourselves feel better. What is our price? What is so important, so precious to us that we would crucify Christ for it?

        Judas took action because his view of Christ was not complete. He only saw him as a man who talked a good talk, but was wasteful. I would even venture out to say that Judas believed Jesus to be prideful when He talked about the kingdom and when he allowed others to use perfume on Him. How do we see Christ? What is our view of God? Is it complete? And most importantly is it real? Do I really believe that He is here and there and everywhere, even when I am sinning? How do I see God? What is God to me? Who is He to me?

God,
Help me to see you for who you completely are. Help me to see that value of who you are as my King, my Savior, my Father, my God. Forgive me when I act as if you are nothing more than a fleeting thought. Some person in History.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Elihu and Paul

2008-05-30T11:41:00.000-10:00

7        “I THOUGHT, ‘AGE SHOULD SPEAK; ADVANCED YEARS SHOULD                 TEACH WISDOM.’
8        BUT IT IS THE SPIRIT IN A MAN, THE BREATH OF THE ALMIGHTY,                 THAT GIVES HIM UNDERSTANDING.
9        IT IS NOT ONLY THE OLD WHO ARE WISE, NOT ONLY THE AGED                 WHO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS RIGHT.”

                                                - JOB 32: 7-9

4        “MY MESSAGE AND MY PREACHING WERE NOT WITH WISE AND                 PERSUASIVE WORDS, BUT WITH A DEMONSTRATION OF THE                         SPIRIT’S POWER,
5        SO THAT YOUR FAITH MIGHT NOT REST ON MEN’S WISDOM, BUT                 ON GOD’S POWER.”

                                                - 1 CORINTHAINS 2:4,5

        Elihu and Paul lived thousands of years apart. Yet they knew the same God and the same wise principle that true wisdom did not come by age or experience but through God’s own Spirit.

        Elihu had waited patiently on the sidelines listening and watching the events of Job unfold. He bit his tongue while the older, and supposedly more wizened men had their say. He listened while Job’s three friends told Job over and over that he was being punished because of his own sin. And he heard Job again and again refute them by telling them from his own heart that he was blameless and had not sinned as to bring this upon himself. But Elihu the youngest of the group opens his mouth, being stirred by the Spirit to speak. He reprimands Job for even complaining to God. He refutes Job’s claims that he is pure and without sin and he reminds Job that no one can fully comprehend the wisdom and actions of God. He reminds Job of his position as a creation of God and that the only thing that they all deserved was to go into the pit. Yet God in his graciousness saves us from that pit. Elihu knew the truth of the Gospel which is intertwined with the loving nature of God.

        He says, “God does all these things to a man, twice, even three times – to turn back his should from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him” (Job 33:29,30).

        How could he know this apart from the Holy Spirit revealing it to him?

        Like Elihu, Paul spoke with wisdom from the Holy Spirit. Yes Paul was very educated and he spoke well; but those were all tools that God used through Paul. Without the component of the Holy Spirit imparting all wisdom and the very message to be spoken through Paul than all those skills and all that education went to work against the Gospel. But once the Spirit entered Paul those things were redeemed for God’s glory.

        I love being a pastor. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be and I definitely have so much more to learn. So much more =) But I just can’t imagine doing anything else right now. Still, sometimes I fall into a slump. The passion wanes a bit and I feel as if I am just going through the motions. These are quite obviously the times when I am not letting the Holy Spirit guide my steps. When I am not sticking close to my creator.

        Sometimes, God forgive me, even when I am preparing a message I try to do it without asking God first. As if I have everything that I need to preach the Word of God and so I don’t have to ask God for help. How presumptuous! God is the one that will be speaking, not me!! Paul reiterates Isaiah 29:14, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” If I don’t invite God into everything that I do then he will frustrate me until I turn back to Him and rely on his wisdom and understanding. He has done since the beginning and throughout the history of His people. Whenever the Israelites would turn away from Him, he would bring hardship upon them until they finally repented and turned back to Him. Elihu spoke this truth to Job and his friends. Telling them that the only thing that they deserved was to go down to the pit; but God in his compassion would bring hardship on them in order to save them from the pit!!

Heavenly Father,
Thank you Lord for giving me the gift of your Holy Spirit. Spirit, please work in and through me. I don’t want to speak any words but those that you want to speak through me. I love you God. You are so awesome and you pour out so much on my life. Please use me to speak your message.

In Jesus precious name I ask these things. Amen

Assuming God’s Role

2008-05-30T11:40:00.000-10:00

Assuming God’s Role

21 Withdraw your hand far from me,
and stop frightening me with your terrors.

22 Then summon me and I will answer,
or let me speak, and you reply.

23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed?
Show me my offense and my sin.

                        - Job 13:21-23

        The reason for Job’s affliction was unknown even to him. The contemporary thought, which even mirrors some of today’s thinking, was that if you were suffering it was because of some sin. Yet Job knew that there were people who were great sinners and yet still prosper. And so he had resigned himself to trusting in God no matter what. But Job’s friends had different ideas. They assumed that Job had committed some heinous, unconfessed sin. They were effectively trying to assume God’s role of judgment. But Job knew better than to jump to conclusions. Only two people knew Job’s heart, God and Job himself. Yet his three friends and even his wife were speaking about things they knew nothing about. Job even tells his friends that it would be wise if they just shut their mouths.
        Here we see Job asking God “…Show me my offense and my sin.” He truly wanted to root out that sin in his heart. And he was the only one that had the right to ask that of God for himself.
        When I first read it seemed to me that he would question and complain to God. Yet it says that through all of this he did not sin. And so we see that God wants us to come to Him with our concerns. Even times like this when we don’t understand fully what is going on in our lives, He wants us to question Him that we might rely on Him more and more.


        How many times have I jumped to conclusions about God and what He is doing in my life before even questioning Him about it? How many times have I said, “Oh, it must be because of such and such.” And then I leave it at that. Assuming that I already know the answer before first coming to the foot of the throne as Job does here. And on the flipside, have I ever assumed that I knew what God was doing something in someone else’s life? Have I ever been an Eliphaz, Bildad or Zophar? Before thinking about anything and assuming that I know what God knows I need to realize that only God knows the hearts of men.

Turn back your hearts

2008-05-30T11:38:00.001-10:00

"And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Luke 1:16,17

Modern Jews still await the return of Elijah. They set out a place for him to eat during their holidays to show that they await his return. But Isaiah and Malachi’s prophecies have already been fulfilled through John the Baptist. Although he is not Elijah returned in the flesh he comes “in the spirit and power of Elijah.” John’s message was similar to that of Elijah in that it was a message of repentance.
1 Kings 18:21 says:

“Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.”

That was the jist of Elijah’s message. Choose sides. There is no in between. He is saying if the Lord is the true God then follow Him. But if Baal really is the true god then follow him. But there is only one conclusion; the Lord is God. So repent now and follow him. The result that Elijah desired and the same reaction that John wanted from the Jews of his time is found in 1 Kings 18:39 after God’s fire comes down from heaven and consumes the offerings:

“When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God; The Lord, He is God.’ ”

That is John’s message. It is straightforward. No if ands or buts. Make a choice now or else God will make it for you. He knows that nobody can be perfect but the verse says “attitude of righteousness, so as to make a people prepared for the Lord.”

Are we doing our job? John came as a forerunner and we must take the baton and finish out the race. As ambassadors of Christ are we demanding an attitude of righteousness from our flock? The bible says that in the end times men will seek out false prophets in order to hear messages that they enjoy and want to hear. They effectively make the scriptures submit to them. And indeed the bible has a very joyful message of salvation and the love of God. But if we are to be teachers of this book then we must be teachers of this whole book. We are to challenge our flock to change their attitudes to one of righteousness. What kind of message are we preaching? Yes the love of God draws people close to Him but it is the holiness of God in all His attributes that create dedicated followers. It is His entirety that causes his children to be obedient. My favorite meat is beef. I love beef. I love the toughness and texture. The work that goes into cutting through a thick prime rib. Sometimes my arm starts to hurt because it’s so tough. Sometimes I have to chew on a piece for so long that my jaws start to ache.

Am I feeding myself with spiritual beef? The call to repentance is a basic teaching, but to me it’s beef. It hurts. Revelations reveals to us letters from Christ himself to churches that are lukewarm. It says that He will spit them out of his mouth. That is one of the worst things that I could ever hear from God. That he wants to spit me out of his mouth. That He is so repulsed by my mediocrity and lukewarmness that he wants to gag and spit me out. I know that I know that I know that I love God and that I am willing to pray the hard prayer that He would root out anything in me that makes me lukewarm. Anything that I hold as more important than Him. I know that it is easy to say that everything is His and that I would freely give it all but am I? Where do I draw the line? How much of my heart is set apart as holy like the land of Israel as told in Ezekiel today? Would I give up my car? Yes. It’s a piece of junk? Would I give up my money? Sure I don’t have much. Would I give up my life…my family…my everything? If called, what would I be willing to give away to remain close to my Lord. Zaccheus came down form the tree and sold everything that he had to follow Jesus. Would I?

Heavenly Father,
I pray God that you would help me to live with an attitude of righteousness. Help me to stay on fire, to stay close to you. I pray the you would open up my eyes to areas in my life where I need repentance. Areas that need to be given up. I am willing Lord.

In Jesus name,
Amen

Ezekiel 22:30

2008-05-30T11:37:00.000-10:00

scripture:                “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and                                 stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not                                have to destroy it, but I found none.”

                                                        - Ezekiel 22:30

observation:                God was jealous and angry. The people that He had raised up                                 and taken care of; the people that He had saved and had                                         reserved for Himself; the people that He had given his blessings                                 and promises to had just taken all of that and threw it out in the                                 trash. They had just flushed it all down the toilet and had decided                                 to follow something else. They began to take life into their own                                 hands and make their own decisions instead of following their                                 God and King. They created idols and started to do detestable                                 things like child sacrifice. They took all of their energy and effort                                 that should have been reserved for God and had effectively given                         it all to some other “god” or to some selfish endeavors. And like                                 in the past the Lord was looking for that one or few good men                                 that could stand in the gap for the people. The few righteous                                 individuals that could God could use to turn the people back; but                                 there were none to be found. He didn’t want to punish them and                                 destroy them because he loved them. But because of his                                         righteousness and justice He had to.

application:                What does it mean to be a man who stands in the gap? What                                 kind of man can stand before God? In this land today we see all                                 kinds of crazy things happening. Suicide bombers, war,                                         celebrities that think that they own the world, acceptance of                                 gayness and all different kinds of lifestyles and beliefs, (besides                                 followers of Jesus of course), idolatry of material things. The list                                 goes on. Our cultures may be different form Ezekiel’s time but the                                 problems are identical. And so we must be on point. Especially in                                 ministry as leaders we are called to be men and women that                                 stand in the gap. It is up to us reach this world; to help bridge that                         gap. We need to build up the wall of faithful followers. The man                                 that stood in the gap for us is Jesus Christ. He bridged the gap                                 between us and God. The gap created by our unending sins. He                                 started building the wall but the task of building and rebuilding                                 the wall has been given to us. We are not called to kill or punish                                 all of these sinners. We are not called to go Old Testament on                                 them and root them out and destroy them. But we are called to                                 build up the wall. To reach out and build people up that can be a                                 part of what God wants to do. In the Ignite Ministry we are trying                                 to build the foundations of the wall. If we can help plant and water                                 the seeds than the wall will be strong. These 5th and 6th graders

Equipped

2008-05-30T11:35:00.000-10:00

Daniel 1

Judah had been given over to the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar Had besieged Judah and taken all of the choice young men. The way that Babylonians conquered was not genocide but to take all of the top men; the wisest, the strongest, the royal family, the most educated and to put them into service for the Babylonian kingdom. They would take them and indoctrinate them and teach them their languages and customs. They would give them homes to live in and choice food to eat in order to make them more compliant and loyal. They might have thought that life was better under Babylonian rule. But amongst the choice men of Judah were 4 men. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

Daniel        =        God is my Jugde
Hananiah        =        The Lord shows grace
Mishael        =        Who is what God is?
Azariah        =        The Lord helps

With names like these it is no wonder that they stayed loyal to the one true God. Their loyalty was not to Judah. It wasn’t to anyone but the God who called them to His service. And so they submitted to the worldly authority over them but their devotion to God and their loyalty to His way of life superceded the authority of Nebuchadnezzar. They learned the language and customs but they refused to eat the food.

I have never been captured by the enemy but it seems to me that the natural compulsion would be to rebel not submit. I would probably refuse to learn their language and ways. In the midst of it all I would not have any idea of what God is doing. I would probably ask the question “Why God?” or “Where are you?” But not these guys. They submitted to authority but not past the point of obedience to God. The Lord was teaching them and equipping them to affect this kingdom. Later on Daniel is called to interpret a vision. And as he did he gave glory to God and continued to point the people back to God. If he had refused to submit; if he had not learned the language how would he have been able to explain so articulately that it was for God’s glory. The king could not explain his own vision because he did not have the power of God working through Him.

Revelations 2:2-6

2008-05-30T11:12:00.001-10:00

S:
        “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that                 you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to                 be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have                         persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not                 grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first                 love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and                 do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and                 remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor:                 You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

                                                - Revelations 2:2-6

O:        This church in Ephesus had all the right things going for them. They seemed to be doing what the Lord wanted them to do. They held fast to the truth and rooted out any people that claimed to be from God but were not. They hated evil and as indicated in this verse they endured many hardships for the name of Christ yet they did not grow weary of it all. But Christ being the one true God that searches the hearts and minds of people knew what they were lacking. They had gotten so caught up in their performance that they forgot about their love of God. They had become very sensitive to the falsities of people and were able to decipher who was from God and not. They had learned to persevere and to be true they seemed to be doing things excellently. But Christ commands them to “Remember the height from which you have fallen.” Sure they were performing well but God knew that their genuine love and excitement for Him had waned. By their actions we can tell that they were truly devoted to God but God wants more than just actions. He wants hearts. He wants to look into the hearts and minds of these people and see the genuine love and excitement that comes with salvation. They had gotten caught up in ministry that they forgot who they were ministering for.

A:        The Bible is truly a living and active word from God. The actions of the Israelites and the early church are not just left in the past and on these pages. They are still being mirrored everyday. Oftentimes in ministry we start to build a momentum. Teams begin building and programs are running smoothly. Everything just starts to flow. When we reach that momentum it is easy to switch to a managing mode. Just managing where we are at because it works well. As a leader sometimes I get caught up in the day-to-day stuff of ministry. I do my devotions, make my phone calls and e-mails, do my planning, delegate and then I’m off. Everything can be going smoothly and from the looks of it God is being honored. And to some degree he is because of our obedience. But oftentimes I can find myself going through this routine while excluding a very important element, God. Anyone can put on a great program. Anyone can manage and pour into people. The thing that makes ministry different from the rest of the world is the God factor. The fact that we are doing it all for a God who loves us. It is at these times where God humbles me and asks me to return to my first love. Sometimes devotions becomes a routine that I have to do. Instead of the excitement of meeting with God and letting Him speak into my heart it becomes like pulling teeth. Instead of just meeting with my savior I try to find some nugget that I can use in my next sermon. So how do I get back to that excitement, to that first love? Well Christ tells the church at Ephesus to remember where they had fallen from. So I need to remember back to that excitement. Second I need to repent. This might seem odd because there has been no visible sin. No action that desperately needs repentance.

Only there is.

Christ tells us that repentance is needed when we get into this state. We have effectively forgotten why we do what we do. We become no different than the rest of the world.

Inside out - Jeremiah 17:10

2008-05-30T11:11:00.001-10:00

"I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve."

- Jeremiah 17:10

This short verse tells us that God examines the hearts and minds of His people. But then it says that this is in order to “reward a man according to his conduct, …” In Christianity many have created an artificial separation between the heart and their actions. Spiritually immature Christians try to live under this doctrine of “grace” where they think that they can act any way they choose as long as they are born again. Some don’t say this outright but they ascribe to this doctrine nonetheless.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says this:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

We emphasize this when we teach others of salvation because we need them to realize that they can do nothing towards their salvation except choose Christ and rely solely on God’s grace. But then people cohabitate, fornicate, do drugs, have mean spirits, hold grudges, have bad mouths, I mean the list goes on, and then they go to church raise their hands in worship. They are not moved onto the next stage of their salvation which is working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Sometimes the Gospel is watered to down to exclude the part where Christ becomes our Lord. But Jeremiah reminds us that God searches our hearts and examines our minds in order to reward us according to our conduct. The two are intertwined. A correct heart will necessarily produce fruit. This understanding comes with spiritual maturity. As Christians and as leaders we often stumble on the “making disciples” part of the Great Commission. How can we move ourselves and our flock to the next level of spiritual maturity. Before salvation the onus was on the Lord because it was impossible for us to approach God unless he first sought us out. But when we make the decision to call Jesus our Lord and Savior the onus is on us to work it out. Before salvation works mean nothing. Good or bad they don’t get us any closer to God. But after salvation works mean everything because they reveal our hearts and minds and as ambassadors for Christ our actions represent Him to others. What type of God will people see in us? How is he being represented in our lives? What do people see? I have often heard it said, “Who cares what other people think?” But as Christians we must care.

Whom do you fear - Isaiah 8:13,14

2008-05-30T11:09:00.000-10:00

“The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary;…”
-Isaiah 8:13,14

God had shown himself to his people so many times. Yet so many times they fell away. And so instead of being a place of refuge and a source of peace for His people God became a source of hardship. The Israelites had rejected God so many times because they feared everything except for Him. They were worried about the world and its conspiracies. They dreaded what others might do to them. But God through Isaiah reminded them that He was the one to be revered, respected and feared. And if they were to do that than He would become a sanctuary to them. He would be a source of peace and a place of rest.

How many times has the Lord shown himself to me? Countless times he has come to my rescue. When I felt alone and desperate He was right there to pick me up. When I had no one to talk to He was there ready to listen. When we were poor and had nowhere to live. When our family was split up He was above watching over us all. In ministry He has come through every single weekend. Every service He came through. Yet somehow I still find myself doubting. I find myself fretting over logistics or trying to do things on my own. I feel like a failure if “I” can’t do it. I feel unqualified. Yet I know that God can do all things and through Him I can do all things also. But sometimes I get into a routine that I just can’t break. My actions become guided by what others might think or expect. I fret about failure because I am afraid of what my leaders will say. But the Bible is so clear that He will be my sanctuary if I only fear and respect Him more than anything or anyone else. When it all boils down to it He is the only one that I need to impress. Sure, he has appointed people over me to oversee my development and to check my heart. But if my motivation is to please the Lord and if I know that if I am humble enough to acknowledge and realize that I can’t do anything on my own then those people will be pleased. The Lord will bless the ministry.

The one thing that the Israelites repeatedly did was to forget what God had done in the past. If they did this constantly than they would not have fallen away. But how often do we forget what God had done not only for us in our own lives but even through what we know in His word. God defeated armies! Think about it. He had and still has the power to defeat any obstacle. If He had wanted to, He could have used one man to defeat the whole Assyrian army. How easy is it for Him to find a worship leader for Ignite services?

I need to do what the Israelites did not. I need to learn form their mistakes. I need to sit and remember what God has done and what he is capable of doing. And I also need to remember that He is my father and He has His heart set on our best.