Will your community thrive or die?

I believe that the church can be described as a community.

The dictionary defines community as a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.

The Church would most certainly describe itself this way. We are a religious group…whether we like that terminology or not…that is what we are. We have common characteristics and interests. And we most certainly perceive ourselves as distinct from larger society…although I am not sure society sees us all that different. They should, but in a very positive and good way, typically society sees this difference in a very negative light.

I have a couple of thoughts I hope to share over the coming days and weeks about community. I have started this already some, but am quite admittedly, a bad blogger.

Today, I start with a few practical thoughts about community and just some questions. I would love your thoughts.

There are three things that should be true of me as I exist within a community…
1. I consume.
2. I contribute.
3. I communicate.

If one of these three things is not true of me as I exist in community, I really mess up community life. I mean it is quite awkward and frustrating to try to serve the consumption needs of a person that does not communicate. (Ever tried to figure out if the baby needed a diaper, food, to burp, or to sleep?) In a healthy community we consume what others have to contribute and we contribute what others need and want to consume and in the midst of that we communicate with one another.

So here are the two questions as this community thought applies to church and life…

1. If everyone in your faith community (local church) consumed as much as you consume and contributed as much as you contribute, would your faith community (local church) thrive or die?

2. If every organization within your community (city or town) consumed as much as your organization (local church) consumes and contributed as much as your organization (local church) contributes, would your community (city or town) thrive or die?

This principle needs to apply to us individually within our communities…for my purposes as believers in the local church…but it applies to other communities as well. But the principle also applies to the bigger picture of our geographic and physical communities, our cities and towns.

If we all consume more than we contribute, our communities die. But if we choose to live beyond ourselves and contribute to this place more than we consume, the whole community thrives.

May the living Church of God be so filled with the life of Christ that it contributes a vastly greater amount than it consumes. My this cause our community, not just our church, to thrive and not die. May the source of this contribution be so obvious that our society would know that our God reigns…or As Jesus said, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

Running in and into the dark

Last week, while at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, I got up for an early morning run twice. This teachings I heard there continued to speak into my life where God has been leading me for about a year now. It is an uncomfortable yet thrilling place to be spiritually. Hard yet light. Convicting yet life-giving. So I want to share a little story and where I find myself on the sidewalk of life.

The first day I left my hotel and took off down the sidewalks there in that area of John's Creek, GA. It was a beautiful morning for a run and I enjoyed the hills and challenges, but there was one main problem. There was no consistency in their use of sidewalks. I would take off down one road on a sidewalk and get to the next corner…and no more sidewalks. I ended up in running dead ends. I simply did not understand the rationale behind certain roads having sidewalks and others not. It was a nice but frustrating run.

I did discover one area that seemed to have better sidewalks toward the end of my run and decided I would head that way the next day. Well, I was lazy the next day and slept in. So two days later I take off on my run into the darkness to an area I am confident in the sidewalks. As I turned off the main road and headed down the side street I had chosen the run before I was surprised at how poorly lit the area was, but no worries, there were sidewalks. So I continued down knowing I was keeping a good pace and burning off some much needed calories. As I ran along in the dark, I found myself suddenly on the sidewalk, falling and scraping my hands up and knee up as I caught my fall. The sidewalk was messed up in one place and in the darkness I could not see it. I almost decided to go home…being a big wimp and all. But I decided to get up and finish my run. So I ran down to the next corner. I had not gone this far the run before but had assumed there would be a sidewalk when I got there…but no. So I turned around and made my way back down the path I had fallen on but more carefully this time. I finished out my run and felt good for having gotten my exercise and glad my next run would be on familiar ground.

My question for those of us who are Christ-followers is, "How often is this the experience of those who experience our faith communities?" I wonder if the world ever runs along next to those who claim to live their lives by the power and mission of the Jesus Christ and wonder, "Why did the path end here?"

Our world knows more and more about the teachings and claims of Jesus yet they believe in him less and less. Why?

I wonder if it is because they see churches make good paths into the darkness but after traveling down the initial path they find a dead end where there should be a deeper trail. They have read about how Jesus cared about the poor and the hurting and down-trodden and they go to church and get involved and realize that no one there does. Some perhaps even take off running into the darkness in the name of Jesus but they get tripped up over the broken systems and structures in our churches and denominations. Some, choose to get up and keep on going, only to find the sidewalk ahead is a dead end.

What most of us have chosen to do is to turn around and run the same path we already have. We make more programs for ourselves and spend more of our money on bigger buildings and better lights and more staff. Our faith communities…our churches…too often decide that sidewalks are too costly and the darkness is too great. We don't say it…we live it. We run in the familiar…afraid to forge into the darkness.

I believe it is why Casper in the book Jim and Casper Go to Church simply ask Sunday after Sunday (he is an atheist hired by a friend to tell him his reactions to some of America's best churches), "Is this really what Jesus told you to do?"

He would ask the same question if he came to Fellowship…I know that. So this is no soap box blog. Instead I am a man picking himself back up after falling on a crack in the sidewalk and looking the dark dead end square in the eye and saying…

I will not turn back. I will not run the familiar. I refuse to find the easy and the already laid down paths of religion. I choose to honor and appreciate those who have forged the ones I have travelled this far, but I realize that we must go further into the darkness. We must choose to run where there are no paths and where darkness prevails, realizing that we will trip and fall…there will be scrapes and bumps and bruises. But down that path somewhere there is a crown…a crown of righteousness laid up for us. That crown will not be found by simply walking along the paths that are nice and easy. The path that God has marked out for you is not the one you want by your flesh. It is one that only the Spirit would cause you to run. It is found in the poverty-stricken communities of this world…it is found in broken messy lives falling apart in the most expensive neighborhoods in our community. Quite honestly, it is found where you have already been and where you have not yet gone…finding that path is not just about going where you have never gone but going everywhere you go with a different mission.

The hard part is I don't know how to lay the sidewalk…which I feel is my responsibility as pastor. I don't know where the broken places are…the tripping points. I am not sure how to lead my family into this lifestyle. I am not sure how to lead my church into this missional place. I have realized I can't make it easy and I can't cause it to be travelled without fear and, therefore, without faith. But that, perhaps, is what faith really is, and the true calling of a pastor is found…leading people into what they fear so they must live by faith. You see, faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.

I do not yet see the church being what God has called it to be…but I am catching glimpses of it at Fellowship…and I have the faith we will see it more fully in the days ahead. I hope to be a man that lives a lifestyle that allows him to be generous and gracious in every opportunity…I am not there yet…but I am seeing glimpses of it…and I am confident we will get there.

You must understand, I am not standing on the sidewalk of life in guilt and shame but in hope and joy. God is allowing me as pastor to see what He is doing instead of what we are not doing. He is allowing me to see the masterpiece that is in His people and not just the mud in their lives. He is allowing me to see this in myself. Yet, he is also keeping me keenly aware of the mud and the shortcomings.

The question is…are you willing to stop and look at how you are living your life? Do you desire the comfortable and well-lit expensive sidewalks of cultural American Christianity…built for leisurely strolls to nowhere? Do you really enjoy that? Is it really all that fulfilling? Or do you desire to run a little deeper into the darkness?

I believe you do. You just don't know how to do it and are afraid to go alone. So don't…let's go together…and let God light the way.

Are you GOOD TO GO?

P.S. I have turned the comments portion of my blog back on. I would love your honest replies. What do you think? Are you dealing with this tension? If so, what are you doing with it?

Also, I encourage you to read the book The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons.

Attention Stealers

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' Mark 12:30

I have been preaching a series titled "Directionally Challenged." The series is birthed from some truths I learned from Andy Stanley's book The Principle of the Path. (a book well worth the read.)

The Principle of the Path is a simple, profound, and unavoidable truth and reality in life. Direction, not intention, determines destination. All the good intentions in the world will not take you where you want to go. The only thing in life that takes us to the right destinations in life is making the right decisions to go in the right directions.

The biggest issue with direction and intention, however, is attention. Another truth and perhaps my favorite out of the series and the book is the role of attention. What gets our attention determines our direction, and ultimately, our destination. (per Jesus…where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.)

I believe the majority of church-goers read Mark 12:30 and say I want to love Jesus like that. They give that thought their undivided attention until they step outside of their stain-glassed buildings and the sin-stained world begins to distract them. The things of this world begin to quickly rob each and every one of us of the attention we desire to give to the most important things in life.

The problem that I see in this real issue is that we must come to grips with the biggest reason our attention is stolen. The issue is not what we like to consider. We like to consider the symptoms or the actions in our lives, but the real issue is not about our actions…it is our heart. We do not love the Lord with all of our heart because we love other things with too much of our heart and our soul and our mind and our strength.

In this past week's message I shared the five main attention stealers I see in life. I have gotten some good feeback on this and would like to share it in my blog, then I will wrap up this blog with a little information about this next Sunday.

Attention Stealers…
1. Self – You will never give your full attention to God (or to others in serving Him) while living life to fully attend to yourself.
2. Wounds – If you continue to focus on the wounding in your life you will never experience healing in your life.
3. Disabilities – Living focused on what you cannot do will rob you of the ability to do what you can.
4. Failures – Giving today's attention to yesterday's failures will rob you of tomorrow's successes.
5. Good – Living life for that which is good often prevents us from experiencing that which is God.

The comment about failures…Giving today's attention to yesterday's failures will rob you of tomorrow's successes...is the thought I want to wrap the series up with this weekend.

The truth is we have all failed, but some of you are locked down by it. Your life has been taken captive by your failures (or the failures of others against you). You are living life in a stand still spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

The direction you took yesterday is preventing you from dealing with the destination of today and robbing you of the intention you desire to live out tomorrow. This Sunday I am preaching on where do you go from there?

What do you do when God says, "Road Closed"?

If you are a part of Fellowship and know someone who is living life frozen at the "Road Closed" sign, bring them Sunday. It is time they learned the value of a detour with God and the joy of the Road Ahead.

See you Sunday!

Prayer-walking blog 2

Donna Guillot has written another blog concerning prayer-walking. I think you will find it to be a great read. If you committed to walk and pray for your neighborhood but have not yet done, please stick to that commitment. Try to find time soon to make that effort. I know that I have some of my neighborhood to finish. We have been out twice but the neighborhood is large and it is HOT. So we are going to finish it soon, but we have not yet. Thank you for your commitment to sharing God's love with those around you.

www.trials2triumph.blogspot.com

Prayer-walking blog

In my last blog I told you to check out Donna Guillot's upcoming blogs on prayer-walking, but I gave a bad link to go by.

Please check out her blog at www.trials2triumph.blogspot.com

Won’t You Be My Neighbor…Guide 3

This is the last of a series of 3 Neighbor guides we have given out at church during this series. This one teaches on how to prayer-walk and comes with a challenge to prayer-walk your neighborhood. I also want to encourage you to check out Donna Guillot's blog www.trials2truimph.blogspot.com on more about prayer-walking and some personal experiences with it. She is a great writer and will encourage you as you decide to step out and reach out to your neighbors through the power of prayer.

Being a Neighbor means praying for your neighbor.

If my people who are called by name will humble themselves and pray….

We live in a society that needs to humble itself before God and pray…and seek his face…and turn from its wicked ways. All of these things begin with prayer. Are you willing to humble yourself in prayer and pray for yourself and your neighbors?

 What is prayer-walking?
- Praying in motion.
- Praying continuously.
- Praying with a heart toward the salvation and life change of those you
are praying for.
- Pray with spiritual eyes that see more than just a mess in a yard but are
sensitive toward a need in a family.
- Praying toward the role of your church in that community and how to
impact those lives.
- Spiritual warfare.

What is the purpose in prayer-walking?
- It brings you closer to God
- It helps you be on mission with Christ.
- It helps you hear from the Holy Spirit.
- It changes the way you see your neighbors.

What do I expect while I am out prayer-walking?
- To get hot…it is a south Louisiana summer after all. (Bring water)
- Expect Divine appointments…people God wants you to run into not just
walk by.
- Holy Spirit guidance and insight to influencing your neighbors for Christ.

How do I prepare to prayer-walk?
- Get your "Prayer Notice" door cards ready for your neighborhood. (They are
next to the prayer-walk commitment map or in the Connection Center)
- Put away the IPOD and MP3. You want to pray without distraction.
- Pray in repentance and faith before you prayer-walk.
- Ask God to search your heart through the process.
- Pray for spiritual sensitivity toward what others might need.
- Pray for opportunities to share the Gospel.
- Pray for spiritual eyes to give you insight into influencing your neighbors for
Christ.

 What is a divine appointment and what do I do with it?
- Be prepared to share the Gospel with a neighbor…you never know what conversation "I am praying for you…" will start.
- Ask for prayer requests when you meet up with neighbors.

Practical Tips for Prayer-walking
- Keep your eyes open and be observant
- Pray Scriptures.
- Pray out loud and/or silently
- Claim God's love, compassion, and mercy for those you pray for.
- Pray with an eternal focus. Ask God for salvations and be mindful of
what death without Christ means for every household and every person.

Fellowship Church Prayer-walking Process and Goal Dates
1. Mark the commitment to pray your neighborhood on the Prayer-walk
map. (August 8)
2. Initial prayer-walk through neighborhood, leaving "Prayer Notice" cards
on each door. (August 8-21)
3. Follow up prayer-walk through neighborhood, leaving "The Path" Gospel
presentations on each door. (September 2010)
4. At least a monthly prayer-walk through your neighborhood. (August
2010-July 2011)

I hope you will be a part of this challenge and don't forget to check out the three blog series Donna Guillot is writing at www.trials2truimph.blogspot.com.

 
 

 

 
 

Neighbor Guide Two

The last few weeks I have been writing up some guides to what it means to be a Biblical neighbor to go along with our "Won't you be My Neighbor" series. This past week with Governor Bobby Jindal coming (which was awesome) we did not give the guide any attention or point it out. I believe this guide is a good resource to just everyday neighborly living for the glory of Christ and the Gospel. I decided to blog it to maybe help a few more people actually read it. J

God set the times and places for you. (read Acts 17:26) God put you where you are when you are for his purposes and glory. This booklet is food for thought on being a neighbor in daily life. Are you willing to be the Good Samaritan right here...right now?

Thou shalt not annoy your neighbor in the name of Christ by…
1. Self-serving service. Do not serve others just to get them to do what you want.
2. Awkward appreciation. Do not make something up just to serve someone.

3. Meeting non-needs as real needs. Giving water to a person that is not thirsty does not meet their need for water, it meets your need to give.

How not to annoy thy neighbor while actually being one...
1. Be honest about your intentions. Be real that you are sharing your life change in serving.
Your intention should be to share Christ.
2. Appreciation is not awkward if it is heart-felt. So don't lie about it.
3. You can meet a non-need or a felt need, just don't make it into something it is not.

 Being a neighbor where you live…
1. Invite your neighbors over to eat.
2. Offer to mow their lawn if they go out of town…for free.
3. Be a safe place for neighborhood children to play
4. Volunteer to better the neighborhood or HOA.
5. Stop and offer to lend a hand when your neighbor is working on a project.

Being a neighbor where you work…
1. Make the coffee without complaining and fix others a cup.
2. Offer to help someone else with something that is not your responsibility, even if it means more time.
3. Ask your boss and subordinates what you can do to help them out.
4. Ask your coworkers how you can pray for them and then do it. Then simply come back later and ask how it is working out. No pressure…just prayer.

Being a neighbor in your school…
1. Help your teachers in their classrooms.
2. Behave in class and do your work. No one will ever see Jesus in a slacker.
3. Keep extra pens and pencils and share…even if you do not get them back.
4. Try to make sure others get noticed for what they do. Brag on the people no one sees.

 Being a neighbor in recreation…
1. Volunteer to organize, coach, or serve in recreational organizations…don't just receive.
2. Help the coach out if you are not the coach.
3. Offer to help with snacks, etc.
4. Be the team encourager.

Being a neighbor everywhere…
1. Get off the phone when going to a register to check out and treat the person as a person.
2. Say nice things to people.
3. Put someone's groceries in their car.
4. Help people you see that need a hand. You have the time, you just have to give it to someone else.
5. Budget to be a helper. Generous giving begins with generous living.

 
 

 

Does Grace Reign?

In Romans 5:21 says "so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Grace is amazing topic and an amazing truth. There is nothing easier to discuss and share with others than grace. By definition grace is to "receive that which you do not deserve." The Greek word for grace can be translated as gift in certain grammatical settings. Gifts are undeserved, by definition. (Having a birthday does not actually cause one to earn gifts. It is simply a celebration in which people choose to grace you with them.)

Much of what people in our world consider grace today is nothing more than a cheap substitute. Grace is also defined as "underserved favor." Grace is God giving to us what we do not deserve simply because he is loving and gracious. I believe that many people understand that part. They get the definition of grace, what they don't understand is what it looks like in life. People accept a cheap substitute in their own life and lower grace to a meaningless church word sung in songs that have lost their meaning to those that sing them.

Where too many people lose a right understanding of grace is found in Romans 5:21. Grace reigns through righteousness. Most of us believe that grace reigns through forgiveness. Grace is being forgiven. Grace does not simply cause the act of forgiveness…grace causes the state of forgiven. And there is a big difference.

When we cheapen grace we allow the path to become the product. We allow beginning to become the end. Too many people grab hold of God's grace hoping and praying and even wishing that they might simply be forgiven…while God's grace will most certainly forgive you…forgiveness is not the end result it is the beginning point.

Forgiveness is the path of grace…Righteousness is the product of grace. Grace does not produce forgiveness. Grace produces righteousness. The path to said righteousness is indeed forgiveness. Forgiveness is the stepping stone to obedience. God's grace does mold within us more disobedience so that we might experience more forgiveness…it forges within us righteousness so that we might be more obedient.

I have heard a cheap rendition of grace concerning the moral disobedience of a church leader, "well, you know grace works." The work of grace in the life of a leader is not simply forgiveness…it is obedience…it is righteousness. Sure, there will be times when each person – even spiritual leaders – will need to experience fresh grace and fresh forgiveness, but not at the cost of lowering the standard of grace. That forgiveness does not simply produce forgiveness for that leader to then sin again and grace "keep working" time and time again. Grace and forgiveness produces in that leader change…it produces in them righteousness.

If you are a person that has been saved by God's "Amazing Grace."….if you are a person that "once was lost but now is found"….if you are a person that "once was blind but now you see"…live as one who is found and one that sees.

Do not accept a cheap substitute for grace in your life that simply culminates in forgiveness. Accept only the real thing…the grace that changes the forgiven and produces righteousness. It is that righteousness that grace truly reigns.

What I have…

Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Acts 3:6

There is a powerful statement in the midst of this powerful act that we probably most often miss. Peter heals this man and leads to great opportunity for sharing of the Gospel and to many more salvations and even to persecution for speaking the name of Jesus Christ boldly.

Most often when I read through a verse like this I think, "God, I wish you would do things like that today. I wish you would use me that way."

This morning, though I read it and something different jumped out at me. This is a theme that God is speaking very consistently to me and through me right now. It is a real issue that we as Christians of today must face. Perhaps it jumped out because I went back through Chapter 8 of Crazy Love last night and considered what the life of a person obsessed with Jesus would look like and realized mine falls far short of it.

The statement that jumped out was "what I have I give you." WOW!

Are you a person that sees great need in another person's life and says, "What I have I give you"?

The problem for Americans is that we would have to say this, "Silver and gold I do have, and what I have I give you." And most of us are simply unwilling to say that.

Instead we say, "Silver and gold I don't have enough of, so what I have I do not give you. But in the name of Jesus, be…well be…"

Simple question…

Will God ever give all he has to give through you while you do not give all you have?

 

The Stare Dare

I had an online encounter with some folks from my hometown (the great city of Ruston, LA). The encounter was actually about Ruston and one of their recent experiences there. Out of this online exchange I was really challenged with a thought that I would like to share. To properly share it I will have to give a few details of the exchange so that I can help you see where this came from.

Basically, a person from Ruston grew up and moved away. They now live in Austin. A city in which you can be whomever you want to be in and no one notices. (per the blog written about this.) The person that grew up in Ruston has adopted internationally. They recently returned to Ruston with their racially blended family and felt stared and gawked at. This led to them writing a blog ranting on the subject and on Ruston a little. There is so much to be learned from this interaction that I don't really know where to start but there is really one key truth I hope we can all walk away with. So, I will touch my comment response to the blog quickly and get to the meat.

1^st – I have an internationally adopted nephew that lives in Ruston and he has been loved, accepted, and celebrated there.

2^nd – We often prejudge other people's prejudices. We have to be careful to not respond by making assumptions about people that we feel are making assumptions about us. This, however, is really difficult to do when the actions that cause your assumptions are hurtful.

3^rd – Ruston is a town where people still see people. Often in bigger cities the reason no one stares is because no one notices. We have too much in our culture traded truly accepting one another for being indifferent toward the existence of one another. I am not sure that the indifference of the majority of people in a big city is really a better approach to life than the prejudice of the minority of people in a small town. Especially if getting over one's prejudices only leads to indifference. It might be better to have someone hate your existence than to be totally unaware of it. Just a thought for our culture.

4^th – Think through what you write in a blog carefully before you post it. It might not communicate what you really want to communicate. Rants don't ever help change anything. (I have SO made that mistake in my blog before…I hope this is not such a moment.)

5^th – If you commit yourself to changing the world you cannot be angry at the world for having not yet changed. (The real issue that God has used this incident to teach me.) The rationale for this statement in this situation is based on my current view toward adoption. This issue is particularly sensitive to me right now as I have had a nephew adopted into our family in recent years and because my wife and I currently working toward adoption and/or foster parenting.

I believe adoption is the choice to change the world one life at a time. It is a choice that I think God is calling the church to. Our world is full of starving orphans while our homes are full of love and food. I want to change concerning this and I pray the world will change with me. I am planning on leading our church to step up and start an adoption fund this fall that will enable families of our church to afford adoption. I do, however, realize that not everyone is going to share this conviction with me.

So my thoughts concerning adoption bring me to my statement about being angry that the world has not yet changed. This whole line of thought brought me to something that Jesus told us about following him.

This is my command: Love each other. "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 1 John 5:17-19

The stare dare is to live a life that causes other people to stare. Let them gawk. Let them not know what to do with you or what to think about you. And pray that in those thoughts they might think about God. That the depth of who you are and the life you lead might lead someone else to examine their own life in the shadow of the life Christ gave for them.

Be different and be proud of it. I tried to encourage the people from Ruston that had this tough experience with this thought. "What will shape the lives of your children is not the stares of strangers. What will shape their lives is the incredible choice of their parents. The choice to love a child that was not their own as their own so much that child became their own."

That type of love is world changing. It changes the world one life and one stare at a time. So take the stare dare and live a life so sold out to the love of Christ that world stares you down…then step out of the way and let the world see Jesus.

 

Chicken or the Egg?

The old adage, "What comes first…the chicken or the egg?" is a real issue within most real issues.

What comes first in a desired goal or objective?

I have just wrapped up a sermon series titled "iamchurch." This series has focused on the reality of church life and our role in it by looking at the first 6 chapters of Acts. During this series we have discussed the real issue about how churches become what God desires them to become. The church becomes what God desires it to become when the individuals in it become what God desires them to become.

This past year I have really challenged Fellowship with this thought. You should never expect your church to be what you are not.

I believe we must come to the point individually where we do not ask of our church corporately what we are not willing to ask of ourselves indivudally. Why? Because the church will never be what we are not. The church is made up of its members. The Church corporately is simply the sum of the individuals in it.

So, with this challenge, I wrapped up the series with this truth from Acts. I gave this definition for church. The church is a radical community of radical people with one radical cause.

The reality, though, is that the majority of us as Christians and, therefore, our churches have instead become comfortable communities of comfortable people with comfortable causes.

So, this truth challenges me to ask, how do we move from comfortable to radical. This question is more difficult than it would seem. The answer would seem to be "do radical stuff."

The tough part about being the church though is not that we do radical things but that we become radical people who have experienced radical change.

So, what comes first…the chicken or the egg? What comes first doing radical things or being a radical person?

How do we experience this change individually? How do we seek after it corporately?

I came to these conclusions as I read through the amazing narrative of the beginning of the Church that is the Book of Acts…

Doing radical things does not make a person nor a church radical for Christ.
    New and radical sounds in music will not make your church radical for Christ.
    New and radical creative ways to teach will not make your church radical for Christ.

Being radical people for Christ will, however, cause your church to radical things for Christ.
    New and radical people will be open to experiencing new and radical things in Christ.
    New and radical people will be radical about sharing the Gospel with those around them.
    New and radical people will make up a new and radical church that does new and radical things.

But don't get the cart before the horse. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. (I am trying my hand at cliché using in honor of Pastor Joey.)

Just because you do cool stuff at your church every Sunday does not mean you will ever become a radical community of radical people with one radical cause.

We, as church leaders and as church members, must make it our goal to build one another up into radical people.

We do this by sharing in a unified cause for the Gospel...by encouraging and praying for and with one another…by holding up the Word of God and holding each other to its truths…by pushing each other to be witnesses of the Good news of Jesus Christ to the world around us.

A church that is doing these things will be made up of people doing these things. And these individuals will bring all kinds of new approaches and radical ideas together for the cause of Christ.

I hope this truth sinks in with those who think simply changing the way we "do" church will change the church?
I also hope it challenges those who think that changed people will never change the way we "do" church?

Both must happen for us stay radical for this radical cause.

Holidays in the Ministry

I decided to write this blog as the result of a Facebook status update by a couple of friends of mine that are in church leadership at a church in Houston. They felt "like and island in a big city" on Easter because they were separated from family to do the work God had called them to do. I started to write a really long Facebook message but instead decided to blog on what I have learned about holidays in ministry through my 15 plus years working in ministry. I started young and have seen how holidays affect your ministry life at different stages.

So I will start with a basic synopsis of the issue. We, who are in ministry, can never be gone from church on Holy Days since they are, after all, important days in the life of our ministry. Easter and Christmas being the biggest of such days. Ministry also causes you to never have a 3 day weekend. Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Good Friday are not 3 day weekends for the paid staff at a church. They are just normal weekends – or busier weekends. If any holiday happens to fall around a Sunday, well there goes that time off – say like 4^th of July, etc. Few church members ever realize the weight that has on paid church staff especially if they are not close enough to travel easily to be with their extended family. Those times that most people get to grab some extra time with the fam, your church staff is often missing family and even hurting inside a little to do it.

So this blog is how we have learned to deal with that and also, maybe a word to church members to be mindful of your staff during such times. They might love having Easter dinner with your family. So here are my suggestions.

1. 
   Travel when you can and consider it your holiday. We often spend time for a holiday with family not on the holiday. The key to this being meaningful is to count it as your holiday. Make some new traditions around it and enjoy it. My family has learned to have Christmas in different ways and times with us because we are never there for Christmas Eve, morning, or dinner. We just do it a little different. The key is realizing you did that holiday with your family even if on the actual holiday you were not with your family.
   
   The side note to this one, is minister's don't count the cost after you paid it, count it before you pay it. When we count up how much this costs us in life after we pay it, it robs us of the joy in our ministry. If you get to spend Christmas Eve with your family but not Christmas Day because of church, don't look back and remember what you did not get to do, remember what you did get to do. We can fall in the trap of "oh look at the sacrifice I made" if we are not careful. I am not saying this as a reprimand to anyone, just a word to the wise because it will cause you to lose much joy in your ministry if you do not. Remember what you DID get to do not what you did NOT get to do.
   
   
2. Honesty is the best policy. Tell your family honestly about how much you wish you could see them but why you cannot. My parents are some of the most committed church members any church has ever had, but they have missed the last two Easters to be with us. Why now and never before? Last year I told them, "I will never come see you for Good Friday or Easter, but you have an open invitation to be here every year. I know some years my sisters will be there and you can't come, but when they are not, please do." They decided being with us on Easter was more important than being at their church and so they have come. We had not done Easter with them in 9 years before that. God changed that for us with some honesty.
   
   
3. Consider crazy travel. Travel on days most people don't travel. We travel every Christmas Day a good portion of the day. We do Christmas Eve service and then do Christmas morning and then get in the car. We might miss what most consider family Christmas but we see our family at Christmas. It might not be what the world would call an ideal way to do Christmas but we have learned to love it. We have done this on years where we literally spent one night and then came back because Sunday was 2 days after Christmas. One year Christmas was Sunday. We went up beforehand to see one family that year and went to see the other as soon as church ended. Holidays exhaust me between travel and church, but they are worth the craziness.
   
   
4. Do holidays with church members. We have enjoyed this at times too. It might not be family but it is church family. Now, one word to the wise on this one. Don't advertise it if you want to be selective about it. If you want to spend time with some folks for a holiday and the people that ask are not the folks you were thinking of be grateful for that and know that God has something special in store for you on that one.
   
   
5. Go big even when you are going small.
   This weekend I preached Good Friday, did Easter Egg Hunts Saturday, and preached twice on Sunday after a very long week getting some work done around our church building with the great people of Fellowship. But I still cooked us some breakfast for Easter morning, did baskets with my kids, and cooked a big Easter dinner. (Wendy was heading out to see her mom at MD Anderson so that was all on me this time.) Sure I had to get up around 4:30 on Easter morning, but having the big meal makes it feel more like a holiday. Now granted this year we had my family with us, but we have done the same thing when it is just us. It makes it fun for the immediate family to be alone when you still go big.
   
   
6. Lead out in the group that needs the family away from family. The first time we ever did any type of holiday with folks from the church we did supper at our house. I did the cooking and led out on that event, but it was worth it.
   
   
7. Learn to be a loner. Now this one is perhaps just a personal thing and not something everyone can do. We would love to see our family for every holiday. But we have learned to love the "just us" holidays too. We go big. We have fun. We make it special. And we don't allow ourselves to sit around thinking about what the rest of the family is doing. We talk to them and tell them we love them, but we just get busy having fun with each other enough to not miss what we are missing.
   
   
8. Come to grips with what you cannot change. Here is what I cannot change, but if I could I would because it hurts badly when I think about it. I have not spent a Christmas with my extended family (meaning my cousins and such) in over a decade. They usually gather on Christmas Eve and/or the Sunday before Christmas. I would love to see them but I can't. Part of the family often gets together for Easters too. I never get to do this. I miss seeing them. Holidays are one of the rare times many of us see this part of our family. I simply do not see my extended family very often. I miss them. I love them. I would love to see them, but it does not happen much. Now, this past year I suggested a summer get together around the 4^th of July and most of them did it. Maybe we can start a new tradition. I don't know. But this is something I wish I could change. But I can't. I will probably never have another Christmas with the Young Clan, but that does not make many any less a member of it. I guess what helps is knowing that my family is proud of who I am and what I do. Truth is our families make a sacrifice too when we make that sacrifice. Having a family of believers helps. I know they would love to see me but there is never guilt given for doing God's work. (So family of ministers, never, ever, ever do this to them. Let them know you miss them not to make them feel guilty but to make them feel loved.)
   

The most important principle is to remember why you were not there. My mom taught me this on the first Mother's Day I did not go home to see her. I was 20 and was preaching somewhere for Mother's Day. She told me that there was no greater way I could honor her as a mother on Mother's Day than to proclaim the Gospel. It changed the way I view not seeing my family on holidays.

This Easter, I had the privilege of preaching the Gospel to almost 550 people, baptizing 4 people, and seeing 10 more confess Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Even if I had seen no family this Easter, I would choose to focus on what God did instead of what I did not do. The old mind over matter sometimes helps. The way you view it depends on the way you view it.

I hope this is helpful to people growing up in and doing ministry. (And then again, if the hearts still hurts. Take the next Sunday off and get out of dodge and go see your family. I do it every Christmas.)

 

Little World

My son has inherited from me a trait that makes going to school difficult. It is often called Attention Deficit Disorder. I grew up calling it daydreaming…and knowing it was a punishable offense if done at the wrong time and in the wrong place. Well, Daniel's teacher told me during our parent-teacher conference that Daniel lives in his own little world.

The next evening I had some one on one time with Daniel and I asked him about his own little world. He then went on to tell me a little about his own little world. Then he said a few words that made me respect him more than I ever have.

He told me, "Dad sometimes it is sad in my own little world."
I asked, "Why." Meaning, why do you allow your little world to be sad, you control it.
Daniel replied, "Well sometimes I think about sad things. Like if something were to happen to Melanie or Kara. And in my own little world I tell God 'Take me instead of them'….because I love them so much."

He floored me. I had no idea how to respond to such an incredible and profound statement by my eight year old hero. So I tried hard not to cry in the restaurant we were having supper in and just told him I thought he was the greatest big brother anybody could ever have.

Well, that thought has been on my mind a great deal this week as we head into Good Friday and Easter. These verses have run through my head all week.

But God demonstrated his love for us in this…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.

Many people in our world completely reject the concept of such unconditional and underserved love. They refuse to believe in it. They refuse to trust and they refuse to allow it into their lives. I, for one, completely believe it and I fully trust it. I don't doubt for one second that my eight year old son would lay his life down for his two little sisters. Not for one second do I think he would think twice about sacrificing himself for them. He is just that kind of kid.

Why do people refuse to believe that God is that kind of God? Why do so many fail to accept the truth that God is love? I think they are unwilling to see that truth and accept it because they cannot work out for themselves the difficulties of life lived in this fallen world.

But here is the thing…that is the whole point. God showed us…he demonstrated to us…he put into practice his love for us in the midst of our fallenness. In the midst of the worst of your life, Jesus gave you the best of his.

That is why we celebrate the awful events of this Friday as Good. They were not good for Jesus they were good for me. He did good for me because he loves me. They are good for me because they give me life.

So as you look around your own little world this week, I dare you to stop and see it from God's point of you…and see how much he really loves you.

Problem or People

Sometimes in life the problem is people and sometimes the problem is simply the problem. The problem with us is that too often we take out the problem out on the people. I am learning a life lesson today. Here is a nugget I am learning that I hope will help you along your journey.

When we don't want to deal with a problem we fail to deal correctly with people.

Often in life a problem is brought to us and we simply don't want to deal with it. We might even feel that legitimately we don't have time to deal with it. One of my life issues is that I rarely can say I don't have time to deal with it. When you are a leader you have to deal with problems on life's calendar not yours. When you are frustrated with a problem you must always remember that no matter how little you think the problem really matters the person matters greatly.

This evening I will ask someone for grace because in dealing with a problem I failed to deal with the person. I even got to the bottom of the problem and provided what was a workable solution. And I thought all was good because I did good, but truthfully I failed completely. The call of my life, as a Christ-follower and as a pastor, is not simply to get the job done and the problem solved. My calling is to show people who Jesus is and Jesus is not the changer of problems. He is the changer of people.

So next time the problem walks in your door stop and remember that a problem did not just walk in…a person did.

 

(I ask that you might pray for the conversation I need to have tonight. I believe the person I am talking with might need to see the authenticity of Jesus and maybe…just maybe…my sovereign Lord can use my problems and shortcomings to show himself as real. You just never know.)

Where Giving Ends or Begins

Are you a giver? Let me share two thoughts that review the last two weeks of our The Giver series – then I will jump into the challenge from this week.

Giving begins with stewardship.
    Meaning you must make the decision to be generous before the opportunity exists. You must live in a way that allows you to give.
Giving requires us to give our stuff.
    Generosity requires sacrifice. You have to give up some stuff. I am not just talk about tithing. I am talking about day in and day out. I will challenge with this idea about tithing though. Your church will never be more generous than its members…it will never give more than you do. The generosity of the church is often lost in the disobedience of its members. Are you obeying?

This week I talked about the issue that makes giving truly difficult. I call it the crux of giving. It is the breaking or making point. This is the issue that will either begin your life of generosity or it will end it. The passage is Luke 14:25-35. You might want to read it real quick to get some context. Click on the Scripture for a link to it.

Giving costs us…us. Giving costs you…you. Giving costs me…me.

That is the crux of giving. This passage is not heresy it is hyperbole. We are not literally to hate our wives and kids, yet we are to love God so completely and passionately that it seems as if we hate those that we love in comparison. I do find it interesting that in this passage Jesus says that the things we say define being a Christ follower never define what it means to be a Christ follower. Being a good husband is not Christ following. People who do not believe in Jesus at all do it every day. The pinnacle of your Christ following is not at your house…that is where it begins.

So the world tells us to live every day to fullest but in this passage we are told to hate our own life. The Bible says Die every day to the fullest.

Die to the fullest. Die as much as you can. Carry as big a cross as you can. Don't decorate your life with the cross, dedicate your life to the cross.

So the passage tells us we need to count up the cost and follow. We must understand what we must do as Christ followers and do them and that if we don't we mess up manure.

So if you don't want to mess up manure with your life, understand what Christ-following does look like.

Take the responsibility of carrying your cross and following Jesus.
Have the priority of Christ. The priority of our life.
Give the totality of yourself.
Experience the vitality of sacrifice.
    There is no life where there is no sacrifice. I challenge you to consider the times in life you have been the most generous..have you ever felt more alive?

So are you the giver? Or are you the givee?

It begins and ends with you. You have to give all of yourself to give any of yourself. So if you are not the giver, the real problem is not stuff or service…it is self.

What God Gets

What does God get? Honestly, what does he get from us? Does God get FIRST? Does he get BEST? Does he get MOST? (I challenge you…I dare you…I double dog dare you to read the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan for a great perspective on this thought.)

What is God getting in your life? And do you believe he is accepting what you are giving? Does God glory in your seconds and leftovers? Does God enjoy your worst? Is God praised in your minimum?

In Leviticus 22 God gives strict instructions about what types of sacrifices are acceptable and what sacrifices are not acceptable before the Lord. (He does this in much of the book of Leviticus.) This particular chapter deals with vow offerings, fellowship offerings, and thanksgiving offerings. Earlier in Leviticus he has already dealt with the rules about sin and atonement offerings.

Let me break down the offerings and the rules real quick. The atonement offering is an offering in which one animal is slain and the other is released to the wilderness for the atonement of sin. One animal has hands laid on it to put upon it our sin and the other is released to cover the atonement of sin from the moment of sacrifice to the next one. (I sure am glad Jesus died ONCE FOR ALL!) These animals had to be the best and finest of the herd without blemish.

The sin offering was to be offered for forgiveness of sin. You could offer this at any point you realized you sinned. They had to be perfect and without blemish.

The vow offering was an offering you made making a vow not just between you and man but between you and God. They had to be perfect and without blemish.

The fellowship offering, however, was allowed to have certain deformities and the thank offering came with less instruction, except not to sacrifice it on the day of its birth but to wait a period of time.

The rules were to never give the blind, lame, and diseased. Nor could a male animal that was sterile be given.

So, what does all this mean? The sacrifice of God – Jesus Christ – was perfect and without blemish. In his death and resurrection our sins are atoned for and are forgiven once for all.

But I believe the other 3 sacrifices – the vow, fellowship, and thank offering – are applicable to spiritual life today. We make vows before the Lord and fellowship with him and give thanks to him.

My question is do we only give the blind, lame and diseased? Does he only get the sterile in our life - that which has become worthless for the future of the flock?

Is God getting the first of your time, your money, your passion, and your service? Is God getting the best of your abilities, talents, and resources? Is God getting the most of your life, your goals, and your energy?

Or is he being served sacrifices that are unacceptable? God asks a question in the Old Testament about his people when they were doing this…would you serve this to the governor?

The hard part of realizing this truth is you cannot give God your first, best, and most if you give it anyone or anything else…including your family, your job, and your life.

So give God your first, best, and most and allow him to distribute it as he sees fit. Because God does not take seconds, leftovers, and meaningless praise…to accept it would be to profane Himself.

The Giver

The Giver is a new series I started preaching this last Sunday. The service was fun and challenging. The set is awesome and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is our creative hub. This book is such an amazing contrast between selfishness and generosity. I love it. It is amazing the lessons you can learn from children's books if you would just read them to yourself as you read them to your children. (So be careful what books you buy them because our world is teaching some crazy stuff in the children literature of today.)

So I plan on hitting on a few of the high points from each sermon in my blog each week this month. I hope you find it helpful and encouraging.

The text this week was Matthew 20:1-16. The Parable of the Landowner. In this parable a landowner hires workers at 5 different times through the day and pays them all the same at the end. It is a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven and the grace of God. God's grace is the same for all of us – no matter when and how we experience it. But as grace is a gift, I believe this passage is a beautiful picture of how we are called to be generous.

Here are some points to consider about generosity…

• Generosity begins with stewardship. This landowner was prepared to be generous because of the way he managed what he had.
  
• Generosity requires labor as well as love. You are going to have to put some effort in.
  
• Generosity requires planning as well as participation. You have to plan for it. The man went out 4 more times looking for people to be generous to.
  
• Generosity and greed CANNOT coexist. The mad worker was greedy about generosity. They do not mix. You CANNOT serve 2 masters. It is either God or money, but not both.
  
• Generosity is always an act of grace.
  

The challenge to walk away with about generosity should be…

• Generosity is a choice but it is a choice that must be made before the opportunity exists.
  You must choose to live in such a way that you can give. There is no sacrificial giving without sacrificial living.
  

Now I will share my embarrassing story from Sunday to make the point. Last Saturday, after having studied all week on this Generosity sermon, I went to a Mardi Gras parade. My family and I bought some Cane's chicken before the parade and were halfway through eating it when the parade started. A homeless man came up to us right as we set the food down for the parade and asked us for it. Truth was we were not done. My kids had not finished their meal and neither had I. So, I said no.

Later that afternoon, as I reviewed my sermon notes, God tore a hole in me over this issue. Here I was with plenty of money in my bank account to stop at the next restaurant and buy some more food and with supper thawing in the sink at the house. And I told this man "no"? So that night he probably had a hard time sleeping because of hunger pains while I had a hard time sleeping because of indigestion.

God gave me the opportunity to give and I missed it. We all miss them all the time. I believe the reason we miss them is we don't live our lives stewarding for the purpose of generosity. If we did live that way we would be looking for them instead of looking to not see them. (Example – next time you drive up to homeless person ask yourself if the building to right you are staring out is really that intriguing.)

The other point I made comes from the last verse in this passage, "The first will be last and the last will be first." Generosity requires us to go last.

I hate going last. I hate losing. But I wish I could go back to last Saturday and have lunch last. I wish I could give him even more, but I cannot. I can simply go last the next time and the next time and the next time.

Going last is not a temporary position because generosity is a lifestyle not just a random opportunity.

Getting Over Ourselves

Part of Matthew 16 really hit me this week. In this passage Peter is the first person to confess Jesus as the Christ (or the Messiah). Then just a few verses later he is being rebuked for trying to hold Jesus back from God's plan. In Matthew 16:23 Jesus says some very direct truth to Peter that we all need to learn from. "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's."

Stop and consider the depth of those words. Satan gets ahead of us, which leads to our stumbling, when we have our minds set on the interests of men and not of God. In reality we must all confess that we spend more time with our mind set on our interests than on God's. Or perhaps the problem is that we make the interests of God into the interests of men in the way we approach them. Maybe sometimes our stumbling is the result of us seeing too much with our own eyes and not with his eyes. The problem is often the result of us seeing the answer in our power and not in his.

So this truth leads me to another passage I read this week. Moses speaks to the people of Israel while standing at the Red Sea fearing death as Pharoah and his army are bearing down to destroy them. Exodus 14:13 says "Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today…" The salvation of the what? Who will accomplish today?

Yes, it is the Lord's accomplishment and his salvation…it is not yours. Yet often life seems to fool us and trick us into thinking that it is all up to us. That leads me to the last truth I want to share with you today. I want to share an excerpt from the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In this passage you will see how God is tying all these things together to speak to me these days and hopefully it will speak to you, too. I will end this blog with the excerpt without commentary. I hope it encourages you to get the book. It is worth the read. (there is another quote from the book I will blog about later this week.)

"Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phil 4:4) You'll notice that it does not end with '…unless you are doing something of extreme importance.' No, it's a command for all of us, and it follows with the charge, Do not be anxious for about anything. (VS. 6)

    That is a pretty staggering realization. But what I realized next was even more staggering.

    When I am consumed with my problems – stressed about my life, my family, and my job – I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities." (page 43)

Individually Corporate

What if your church was just like you? Would you go to it next Sunday? Would you give any more money to it?

In Matthew 10, Jesus speaks of the cost of following him. We are told that we will have to leave father, brother, sister, and mother. He tells us that we will be persecuted and ridiculed. The command is that we must take our cross and follow him. Christ-following is not easy, it is costly. It requires a great deal of sacrifice. These sacrifices can be uncomfortable. The sacrifices of obedience often fly in the face of popular Christianity. The majority of us have been taught that we must always put family first. I agree with this overall sentiment in Scripture, but not in the way we think it lives out. Christ-following will require nights away from your family serving in the church and in your community. Christ-following will require you to put Jesus Christ and his Gospel above everything else. That is exactly what it costs. Yet we like to teach ourselves the exact opposite of that.

This is why and how we grow comfortable in our silence with the Gospel and disobedience with our service. These types of partial truths are what allow us to live lives that are changed by the Gospel but never speak the Gospel. We become Christians that want to go to generous churches, yet never give. Go to evangelistic churches, but never tell anyone about Jesus. Go to churches with great children's ministry, youth ministry, and greeter ministry, yet never serve. Churches that do great mission work, yet never go.

We become comfortable with these lives because we become comfortable with these lies.

You should never expect of your church what you do not expect of yourself.

The church is the Body of Christ made up of the individual members. Nothing will ever be true of the corporate body that is not true of the individual members.

Generous churches are made up of generous people. Churches that are reaching lost people for Christ are made up of individuals that are reaching lost people for Christ. Churches with great ministries are made up of volunteers that work hard. Churches that do great missions work are made up of individuals that do great mission work.

The greatest problem with the culture of Christianity today is that people want to be a part of something they do not participate in. It will never happen.

Oh, something great might happen, but you will not be a part of it.

Unamazing Grace

As I read through the Bible I love to see the progression and connection of truth. I am currently reading through the book of Matthew. The teachings of Jesus are always profound but are often best understood when we take the time to see how they connect and build on one another. This blog (and some others to follow) is some truth God has spoken to me as he has shown me some connections of truth in the teachings of Jesus. To better understand the truth I am going to share you might want to read Matthew 9-11.

In Matthew 9:27-31, Jesus has an encounter with and heals some blind men. There is an interesting twist to this story compared to our lives as Christ-followers today. Jesus gave these men specific instructions to not tell anyone about him or what he had done for them. He told them to do the exact opposite of what he has told us to do. We have been commanded to share this truth and Gospel to the ends of the earth. Yet, here is the twist. We, having been told to speak out, remain silent while these who were told to remain silent spoke out.

WHY?

Over the next couple of chapters Jesus touches on some truths that all scratch the surface of this issue. I want to take some time to just scratch the surface of each one and I might scratch deeper on each of the individual issues in some later blogs.

First he says that the harvest is ripe but the workers are few. This statement comes after we hear of Jesus' compassion and heart for the spiritual condition of the world around him. Quick truth is the fields still remain largely empty because we do not share his compassion for the world around us.

Then in Matthew 10 Jesus speaks of the great sacrifices required to follow him. The truth is boiled down to the truth that we must take our cross and follow after him. This will mean putting the Gospel before family at times in our lives. This will mean being ridiculed and criticized. This will mean being persecuted and put down. These realities should be the expectations of every Christ-followers life not the exception.

Then in Matthew 11 he flips the truth around and says ""Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." At first glance this sounds nothing like cross bearing, but look a little deeper. Take my "yoke" and my "burden."

So what is Jesus Christ saying about following him with these two very different sounding teachings and how does it connect to the blind men speaking in the face of instruction for silence?

Too many Christians today are completely unamazed by God's grace. I believe that is true because so many of us came to know Christ early in our lives and we fail to see the reality of God's grace. Let me use the two other passages to explain this thought.

Jesus called me out of the darkness and into his wonderful light when I was 8 years old. That was 26 years ago. I have lived the majority of my life in his light and in his grace and through his mercy. This has caused me (and many others) to have a greater memory of the burdens we have carried than our burden he bore for us.

We must realize that the reason his yoke is easy and his burden is light is because the burden and yoke we no longer bear – the price and penalty for our sins that he bore completely on the cross – is far greater. Our problem is that many of us fail to see the daily reality of this grace because we are so comfortable and familiar with it. Honestly, many of us fail to see how amazing God's grace is because he did not simply save us from who we were but he saved us from becoming who we would have been.

We are not amazed by his grace because we have a greater remembrance of all that we have done for Christ than we do understanding the reality of what he has done for us.

That is why we stay silent while being instructed to speak instead of speaking up when being instructed to remain silent. The blind men saw the reality of the grace and mercy of Christ with their own eyes. It was fresh. It was new. And it was real.

So these truths from Scripture have brought me to this prayer. I wonder if you would not pray it with me…

Lord, open my eyes that I may see. Show me not only the reality and truth of the grace of God that has saved me from what I had become but show me the reality of what your grace saved me from ever becoming. Lord, may I never again use an improper scale when considering the burden and yoke I carry. May my memory never again be more full of my own sacrifices than of yours. May my heart never again see what I have done without seeing what you have done. Lord, may I never again count the cost without the light of the cost you paid. May my heart always be full of your compassion for the condition of the souls around me. May I see them as you see them. Lord, may I always be in the field at work. Lord, I know that I will never remain in the field as a living sacrifice without a continuous view of your mercy in my life. So Lord, never again allow me to fail to see the compassion you had for me and exactly how much I needed it. Lord, may I not only see and realize the reality of it, may it move me. Lord, cause this truth to cause me to speak the name and grace of Christ and to serve him in all faithfulness with sincere gratitude.

Lord, thank you for your love, compassion, and grace…For I once was lost but now am found…was blind but now I see…

Life’s Mile Stones

Life is full of milestones. A milestone is simply a marker designating the distance one has traveled down a certain path or road. Life is lived on a path. The choices we make today will cause the milestones we pass in the future. Too often in life we like to say that the milestones we pass are simply there because of what has happened in life versus seeing that those are most often caused by our choices. The decisions we make cause the paths we live.

The path I live is one I enjoy very much. It is filled with its share of heartaches and trials and stresses but it is also filled with blessings and joys and successes. I realize that along the way I have made some good choices that now lead to joyful milestones.

Sunday I celebrated a great and joyful milestone. On January 3, 1998 the Lord blessed me with the privilege of marrying a beautiful, courageous, and faithful woman. As much as I knew her and loved her that day, I must admit that 12 years later who Wendy is still amazes me. I can say many things that declare her strengths, but today I will share one thing that I believe is true of Wendy that perhaps has the greatest impact on my life as her husband.

Wendy has a tenacious belief in me. She has seen the worst that exists in me. She has been the recipient of my ugliest moods and overwhelming stresses. She has seen me succeed and fail. She has seen my spirits rise and fall and in the midst of all of that her belief in me never waivers. It is almost surreal to me. Even in the moments that I think my church leadership is the poorest or my leading of our home is the worst it has been, her belief that I will be who God designed me to be and do what God has called me to do does not change.

Wives, I encourage you to give such grace and confidence to your husbands. I, honestly, believe this might be the greatest embodiment of submitting unto your husband. The truth is that her undying belief in me is not really because of me. This confidence that she has is her faith in the Lord. She believes in the Lord and she believes that he is the Lord of me. It is her faith that drives such confidence and belief.

And her confidence and belief drives me. There have been many days in my life that I thought I could not accomplish the things that God has called me to accomplish. In all those days there has been one person I share the depths of those struggles with and in each of those struggles her belief in me has not changed. Her confidence in me is simple and pure. And when I get through ranting over how I don't think I can do it, I look into two beautiful eyes that tell me I can because God can.

Wendy, thank you for this underserved but greatly appreciated gift. I pray that I never again give you any reason to doubt me, yet I am fully confident that when I do you will not.

The second meaningful milestone is today. Eight years ago today Fellowship Church had its first public worship service. 32 people (14 of which came for that one Sunday to help out from our sponsor church) gathered together in an old fire department rental hall to worship the Lord. The events surrounding that day were interesting. Our first mailout had gone out but had only hit about ½ of the homes the other ½ got there the next week. I had stayed up all night the night before holding my 3 week old son in a position that would allow him to breathe as he was fighting the fever and cough of RSV.

I remember that the day was exhilarating and exhausting as well as encouraging and disappointing. Looking back the things that encouraged me still do. I saw some lives that needed Fellowship in them that day. I met some people who made the commitment of helping make this vision a reality. The exhausting part has changed. I no longer have to set up stage and screen and projector to have a worship service, but exhaustion still comes at times. I am still exhilarated by the possibilities of what Fellowship can be and can do. And I am still disappointed at times when I envision something working and that not happening as I envisioned.

But overall I am now simply awed by what God has done. Each week some 330 plus people worship together in two services at Fellowship in its own facility. Our church is now being involved in planting another church. I can't remember all the mile markers as clearly as some, but today I am simply grateful for being allowed to walk such a path. I realize there were some decisions I made and the Lord led me to make that started me on this path and have kept me on this path, but I am grateful for it.

We have climbed some mountains and walked through some valleys on this path. But the coolest part about this milestone, is the community of believers that will pass it with me. It is not simply about the number growing. It is about the changed lives that will pass this marker with me heading into the future of Fellowship Church. Lives that were once filled with addiction and are now living in freedom. The lives that were once full of mourning that are now filled with joy. Lives that once were set in the wrong direction that are now focused on the glory of Christ.

Those lives lived in community in Christ is what makes this milestone special.

I don't know what milestones you are looking forward to experiencing in 2010, but take some time to enjoy them. If you realize that today you need to make a decision to walk a new path, then do it. Maybe 2010 needs to be the beginning of the path or a great marker in the midst of that path that leads to the milestones God has planned for you.

And when you arrive at some significant milestone, enjoy it. Praise God for it. And then pass it by. For there are more ahead.