Without ceasing…

So, my job is beautiful… I hang out with a lot of cool people and do a bunch of different things. My favorite of these things is to ship packages to our clients. It consumes about 4-5 hours of my day. Our biggest client is Rent A Center and, in return, we ship a lot of things to them. At the end of each of these packages I have to enter a billing code… it looks like this “B-RAC”. I can’t tell you how many times I type those letters. So much, I don’t want to think about it… Something the Lord has been challenging me with is to pray without ceasing. We interpret this text (1 Thess. 5:17) in accordance to our “home” on the Christian landscape. But, let’s not make it too difficult, God is asking us to pray all of the time. So, I’ve been wondering how to pray during all of those moments when I type those famous letters, “B-RAC”. How can I create a heart of intimacy with God when the atmosphere doesn’t stimulate the process? I think that it is safe to say that the American Spirituality is so outward focused (with events, conferences, crowds, and trends) that we are so lost when it comes to developing an inner life with God. As we look down the corridor of Church HIstory, every person that we stand in awe of cultivated a fire from within. A fire within doesn’t come from simply listening to the latest Hillsong CD or attending every conference with the biggest crowds, or even reading the words of the hottest new book from the most popular author. It comes from pushing into God’s presence when life goes on. It’s making “work”, worship and daily “tasks”, obedience. For me, it is seeking His face inwardly as I am typing, “B-RAC” outwardly. May we become people of deep and fiery intimacy! May we pray without ceasing!

Lennox is burning…

Hey Ging and I just got back from speaking at a Retreat in Lennox, South Dakota. The host church was Lennox Presbyterian Church and there were about 50 High School and college-aged students there during a short winter break. The weekend was jam-packed with times of worship, teaching, break out sessions, and hang out times. We are a bit tired… but are also so blessed that we were there. The presence of God showed up throughout the weekend. There were many students that were so overwhelmed by God’s presence that they were weeping in their desire to be consumed by Him! Decisions were made to draw closer to God. David Fergen, the youth pastor from the church said something amazing to his students and I wanted to repeat it to anyone who would read this note: “I want my life to be not ordinary and I want God to do something not ordinary in my town. So much, that 100 years or 200 years from now, they will still be telling stories about what God did!” That passion will cause tremors of revival to break out in our nation. I pray that we will all have that same passion for our lives and for our cities!

Victory

Have you ever woke up in the morning and sensed that there is a great battle going on in your mind? Some may say, “Everyday!” Maybe they are in tune to spiritual warfare than most. Anyway, I woke up this morning and felt an intense battle going on in my mind and heart. I am not trying to be super-spiritual, but I felt that it was real. I didn’t see angels and demons like some do, but with deep intuition, I sensed a collision of influences. I was reminded of the text in the NT that Paul wrote in Colossians 2:15, describing Jesus as this powerful overcomer who “having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Jesus has stripped the weapons of the powers and authorities of darkness. He has given victory for all who trust upon Him. I pray that we discover and experience the freedom that was bought by His victory today! We don’t have to “cope” with the turmoil and pain. We can really have freedom!

A thought on “good teaching”

I have been thinking about what causes us to go to church. One thing that is common to hear is that people go to church because of the good teaching from the pulpit from the teaching team. Interestingly, a lot of people claim to hear good teaching, but cannot relay much of what they heard. We can assume that if they cannot remember what they’ve heard, they are probably even further from putting it into practice. The teaching was good, but the comprehension and application are absent. Somehow, hearing good teaching has created an emotional response instead of action. We hear a tight sermon and our heart swells as we say, “Praise God, I am getting fed.” I read the Great Commission (Matthew 28:17-20), and saw something really inspiring. Jesus commanded his disciples to go make “disciples” (not converts) and teaching them to “obey” everything He commanded and taught (not teaching them to “know” everything He commanded). Perhaps the distinguishing mark of good teaching and preaching is the fruit that its hearers bear, and not how innovative and inspiring it sounds. Maybe the preachers/teachers that God is most pleased with are not drawing the biggest crowds because of their “good teaching.” Perhaps the ones that, by the grace of God, are getting people to obey God are the ones who bring Him the biggest smile.

Platform watching

In my first semester of seminary I was given a spiritual formation assignment that asked me a lot about the church that I was currently attending; about its staff, mission, vision, etc. One question that probably tripped me up more than the others, “Why do you go to your church?” I can’t remember what I answered. But it has been something that I have thought about for all of us as believers. Why do we go to the church that we attend? I have been reading Barna’s Revolution book and he noted, after a series of surveys, that only 1 of 4 believers felt that worship was primarily for God, leaving 75% of of believers feeling worship is for themselves. Doesn’t that make you want to puke. Maybe we have left them with no choice though. With all of the time, energy, resources, planning, etc.. that we have used to create a “meaningful” experience for church attenders, maybe the only conclusion is that worship is about them. People who come to church for the “experience” that they can get are platform watchers. If the worship, teaching, other elements are “exciting”- than their relationship with God is exciting. So, is the life-changing power of the gospel dependent upon what we can create? I heard this statistic recently that made me hunger for a change. A missions organization added up American church budgets divided by baptisms in that same year. Conclusion: for every 1 baptism the American church spends $1.2 million. Seems disproportioned to what it should be. Perhaps the platform heavy strategy isn’t working… So, why do we go to the church we go to? I pray that we go because we can celebrate God in worship, to grow among an authentic community of believers, and find prophetic ways to reach the lost in our world. Hopefully it isn’t depended upon what happens on the platform.

A limb… part 2

So, last time I talked about the 5 unwise bridesmaids and their spending of their resources and not being ready for the most important thing. I mentioned that it appears that we are obsessed- as Western Christians- with knowledge and knowing stuff, reading the latest book, listening to the hip podcast, etc. All of this and no city that has been won to Jesus. The five wise bridesmaids of Matthew 25 are a different story. They stay put and remain faithful for one cause, without distraction, nor giving into temptation to “get a couple other things done before the Bridegroom comes.” They didn’t miss Him. Notice at the end of the story that when the 5 unwise bridesmaids ask for oil from the 5 wise bridesmaids that the 5 wise bridesmaids only have enough to get them through the night when the Bridegroom, just enough to get them there. I started thinking about our knowledge consumption and the Kingdom of God, and made a conclusion, which may leave me out on a limb that other good Christians may go out to. Perhaps we are only supposed to have just enough understanding and knowledge to keep our faith firm in the Lord, enough to advance His kingdom and multiply disciples, perform miracles, and walk in holiness until He comes. Brad Barton reminded me of something that may apply to this dynamic as well; if we allow to much knowledge to grow in our brains and give it no time to also grow our hearts, it will profit nothing. It seems more important in our younger generation to know the answers and push the discussion further than it does to see genuine transformation happen in lives around us. My heart is with those who want to have just enough to get them through the night, who genuinely make a difference through God’s Spirit in this life. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that it doesn’t come across in a spirit of complacency, because it isn’t. I look at it this way, gaining more knowledge is easy, if you give time to it. People will flock to your study or church, read your book, and no doubt will be blessed. But, think about how hard it is take risks, stay faithful to make disciples, and advance the kingdom. And think about how full our lives would be because of it. Across the world right now, in places that the kingdom is growing, they handle scholars and disciple mutlipliers in two different ways. They place scholars in universities where they make a difference, but are limited to their words. Disciple multipliers are placed in prisons and put to death because they are of greater threat, for they are loosening the cement of cultures and false ideologies. Thousands are being saved and the movement is out of control. Let’s keep in mind what will matter the most when we are at the Seat! For Revival!

On a limb… part 1

I am going to go out on a limb… but I have been thinking a lot about how I and the general consensus of devoted Western Christians have lived. I have noticed, and helped continue, this “helter-skelter” mad dash of knowledge consumption that we believers are on a quest for. People leave churches because the teaching isn’t “something new that I haven’t heard” and kind of bounce around from local church to local church, from one author to the next, from one movement to the next, for the next new thing. It is almost that theological trends have been re-imaged to look something more like fashion trends… and we have to have the newest “revelation” in order to keep up with the everyone else. In Matthew 25 there is a parable about 10 bridesmaids, or virgins, depending on the translation. These bridesmaids are waiting for the bridegroom to come and announce the wedding (for complete understanding of the marriage ritual in 1st century Jewish culture, please hit Terry Johnson up). 5 unwise bridesmaids took no extra oil for their lamps, maybe thinking things wouldn’t take very long. They ran out of oil, and were not ready for the announcement of the bridegroom because they had to go and find more oil for their lamps. I think about what the bridesmaids were doing before they ran out of oil. Perhaps they were running important errands, maybe making final preparations for the wedding feast, nevertheless, they were not ready when the time came. America has the most seminaries, bible schools, worship centers, and avenues available to cultivate disciples, but we don’t have one city that has been overwhelming affected by the gospel (George Otis, Jr.- The Sentinel Group). All of the information available to us, but no concrete evidence of widespread revival! Perhaps our oil is being spent on other things, important things no doubt, like learning… more and more, gathering together… more and more. And reading… more and more. What I am NOT saying is that learning more is wrong. If you think that I am saying that, you don’t know who you are talking to! However, maybe the latest IBM commercials are not only prophesying to the Business world, but also to the people of God, “Stop talking, Do something.” I think about the moment we stand before God, and though we know tons of information about Him, we don’t intimately know Him, nor did we really advance His Kingdom! Next time I’ll cover the 5 wise bridesmaids. But for now, I think that we should examine how we are consuming the oil of our life experience. The greatest heroes in heaven may have failed from Bible school, but did something and God met them in their boldness. Blessings!

Simple

I just completed a book called Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. The bulk of the book is about simplifying what we do on the local church level to make our church solely to cultivate disciples by moving people through a process. It is good stuff. There was a quotation by Elbert Hubbard in the book that read, “Art is a process of elimination. The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed.” I felt that it was appropriate for this time of the year when we examine our lives when a new year starts and desire to make some changes (well, expect for Brian Jackson, he’s too cool for school). I believe the Lord would challenge us to pursue simplicity, only a few critical things to give our time and attention to so our lives can be full and defined by meaning. By stripping away and eliminating things that are not as important as other things, we can give more time to the things that matter. David desired to live for one thing, to gaze upon God’s beauty in worship. What a joy it would be to have that simple of a life!

Refreshed…

So, I was driving down the road today and I found something pretty cool. Not one, but two cars had written with white shoe polish on the rear window of the car “got Christmas? gracepoint.com” I was encouraged because we don’t see an abundance of that. Here were two people who took it upon themselves to market their church with a jankmaster form of marketing because they love their church and wanted everyone to know that they love going there. Usually people are critical of their church more (like criticizing the preaching, worship, grumpiness of the people, the stale donuts, etc…), and do not express their love for church. It manifests in several ways, like taking and not giving (people only give close to 1% of their income instead of the 10% level that God calls us to), going to service but not getting involved and helping out in the thousand places that churches need help. When was the last time you wrote an email to your pastor and thanked him/her for all of their hard work and sacrifice? When was the last time you thanked the music director for worship music that is played for you to worship God? When was the last time you cut Starbucks out of your weekly regiment of food to sow into the ministry of the Kingdom? When was the last time we gave grace to our church, and not just our presence in the building? Think how refreshed non-believers would be if we blessed instead of cursed, especially those who are the people of God… May we all pick up the white shoe polish and have such a heart for our church that we market it on our cars (or something to that extent…)

Spiritual beings

At church today the Pastor said something really cool that I thought I’d blog about, “We are spiritual beings that have a temporary human experience, not human beings with a temporary spiritual experience.” This statement is biblical in both the Old and New Testaments. Solomon speaks about the body returning to the dust it came from and the spirit returning to God to which it came from. There is a part of us that lasts forever, not in a re-incarnate type of existence, but in a “made in God’s image type of existence.” The apostle Paul declared that we are citizens of heaven in Phil. 1. Though we go through this life, we truly belong to God’s eternal kingdom when we are found to be in Christ. This life is a “dressing room for eternity” as Leonard Ravenhill used to say, God rest him. It seems that the temptation is to want to live as “human beings with a temporary spiritual experience.” I was talking to a woman once who said that she converted to Catholicism because, in her mind, you could go out drinking and clubbing more in their faith. I was talking with someone else who is a Christian, but doesn’t seemed bothered by sleeping with their significant other because they will eventually get married anyway. We hear it all the time don’t we, “I’m just human.” Perhaps what a person is saying underneath is “Just leave me alone so I can live my life like I want to.” No doubt we still struggle as we seek to live like Jesus, but doesn’t it seem that we have navigated away from personal holiness and holding one another to the call of Jesus? Sure we’ve had a real encounter with God at one point, but is it only temporary? Perhaps the reason we have a hard time convincing others that Jesus is the way is not because the message is irrelevant or powerless, but because non-believers see right through the temporary spiritual experience we are building in our lives around. They aren’t interested in something that is temporary, but are longing for something profoundly able to get them in touch with God. Having eternity on our hearts causes us to live differently. Having our eyes fixed on Jesus allows us to rise to a new level and follow Him more obediently. May we live as citizens of heaven today!