It’s almost overwhelming to hear about all that there is in this world, and to think that we’ve only scratched the surface so far. What can be dangerous about these thoughts is the slippery slope that society eagerly waits to feed down our throats: this world is all about you. Sayings like “seize the day” and “take what’s yours” bounce around in our head, and we are deceived by illusions of grandeur.

“Cat and dog theology,” very loosely, is the idea that we are either cats of dogs when it comes to our relationship with God. Picture yourself arriving home from work to your dog at home. They greet you at the door, jump up on your leg to be scratched on the head, run after toys and present them at your feet so that you might engage them in joy. They cuddle up next to you on the couch and crave the warm against you.

Now picture coming home to a cat. You open the door, and as you set your things down you glance around to see where the cat may be. You notice it glaring at you from a small spot in the front room where the sun is shining through the window. It gets up and padders away with what seems to you like “that’s right, look at me” type egotism. You fiddle fruitlessly with that little ball with a bell in it at the end of a string, to no avail. Cat’s not into it right now. You throw down some food, it munches for a moment, then scurries off back to the sun-warmed spot in the front room. After a while it rubs across your legs as you sit in your chair, purring faintly as it seeks the satisfaction of that rough spot on the edge of your tennis-shoe. You pick it up to pet it, and it tolerates it, for a moment, before leaping back down and scampering back to some corner to scratch on a post.

The idea is that we’re one of two types of people when it comes to how we relate to God. It’s frightening how close we are to the cat type. We may appreciate the times that God provides some cat nip in a cardboard scratchy thing (and we’re content with the simplicity of that), and somehow magically, the place where all the disgusting and defiling things we leave in a pile of dust is removed and freshly scooped regularly. As the days go by, we are gods of all things! There’s food, when we want it, when we desire a little back scratch, we muster up the energy to rub against whatever’s scratchiest, and whenever our owner comes through the door, we may glance at them, but nothing’s out of the ordinary. We’ve still got precious minutes left to nap in the sun. We can’t be bothered by the intrusion of the owner coming home.

This is a problem. As my brother and I discussed at length with my cousins, I can’t even count how many students I know, friends and peers of mine, and acquaintances I’ve met from here and there came across my mind. My fear is that as a global church we may have failed at recognizing the key factors in raising up a generation that seeks the right god in the house: God. (Not us)

I’ll always remember a sermon I heard a few years ago, where the preacher at the top of his lungs proclaimed that the church has failed at raising up who knows how many “millenials.” Students get to college, or move out of mom and dad’s house and are bombarded by a world of countless endeavors and the “sky is the limit” mentality. Thing after thing after thing to chase after and aspire to be… all the while forgetting the God that made all these things possible. Being ambitious isn’t a bad thing… but we’re not gods.

A beautiful song by As Cities Burn:

“we bear your name, and you let us say that you’re something you’re not.
as if you were made after we saw our own faces and knew we were gods enough.
I think we were made too pretty.”

We’re not the point. As I’ve said before. Surely we’re not what’s ultimate in the world. God was not invented in our own minds after we decided that “hey everything’s pretty great. I’m pretty much the best there is.” Cause we’re not what’s ultimate. Surely we don’t think that…?

The other type of relationship is looking to God as he comes through the door. Smiles on our faces cause we’ve been wallowing all day in our isolation with nothing to do, no one to look forward to. We crave the scratch of his hand on our neck. We look for anything we can that will bring pleasure to him. We’ve recognized the expectations set in place, we go to the door when we’ve got the filth, and we look to him for the measures by which he provides the atonement for what’s not needed in us. HE opens the door. HE lets us back inside. And it’s a joyous time. No mess on the floor, that stank is OUTside, our joy is where HE is. Our joy is found in him. Loneliness is not a part of our vocabulary or train of thought. Our purpose is confidently founded in who he is, not who we are.

What can be frustrating is that we approach Christianity, or we approach a relationship with God as something we need to sell. There are pros and cons, and once that’s all sorted out, we read somewhere that in the end we come out on top. This spits in the face of everything in this world tries to define for us. But His relationship with any of us is not something to sold. It’s something he already bought.

Justice is something we can agree on, right? Well justice would mean that we don’t measure up to perfection, there’s a righteous requirement, right? That’s a saying I’m on board with: “nobody’s perfect.” Which said in another way, “everyone is hopeless.”

But it doesn’t end there, because justice WAS paid. It was paid so that we could even have a relationship with God. And all the things of this world FADE in light of who he is. Are they bad things? No. Some are squeaky toys. others are a rope or a bone to chew on, a ball to chase… but the paramount intrinsic point of all of these things is that the JOY we find in them rests in HIM who gave them to us. In HIM who activates and motivates and energizes all of these things for us so that we find JOY in them and he can say, “This is not all I have for you. The joy you find in these little things that fall apart and fray to pieces is MINISCULE in comparison with who I am. My joy is undefinable! My joy is unfathomable!”

Galileo in 1615 studied and found proof to the theory that, guess what world? The sun didn’t revolve around the earth. The earth was not – is not – the center of the universe. Neither are we.

We so readily accept being cats in our relationship to God. Our satisfaction is found in us. Anything else that enters the equation, we’ll take it or leave it. How tragic our world and our minds wage war against the created order: that there is something, someONE who this is all for. Somehow we continue to convince ourselves that we’re still the point.

But we’re not.

This is a fun ride for everyone, but there’s this one part where the mine train goes into this saloon type thing. You see the manikins playing cards and whatnot, and you start gaining speed toward the back wall of this place. The first time you’re riding, it can startle you for a second, cause it would appear if you continue along your track, you’ll just crash right through the wall! At the last moment, the ride drops down and goes through a hole in the floor, and thus the crisis is averted.

Our instinct falls quite often on our own securities. Our job, our bank account, our position or status in our family, our circle of friends, or our church. We’re trained for our entire life to build up these fortresses that amount to our self worth, and that whatever comes to crash against the walls of our security better not be stronger than we are.

I feel like this line of thinking is a bit contrary to what Scripture teaches. Take… the guy who builds his house on the sand. You could build a stable, sturdy, house… but if it’s say… 30 feet from the beach… things could get messy, damaged, or broken. You could build a house out of steel and concrete… but if it’s on the mountain-side of an active volcano… chances are you could lose everything you’ve worked for.

Jesus tells this parable, like many others… to show that the point is not how smart, how great, how strong, or how successful we are, but rather that Christ is the only cornerstone on which to build any basis of life. We probably feel like we know this well enough, and we could confidently say we believe that… but yet our lives are filled to the brim with evidences of a lack of faith.

Like the Runaway Mine Train… we ride along feeling everything’s just fine… but when we see the tracks of our life running towards a wall, an epic crash… we struggle to find the steering wheel, or jump out of the car. At the time… in the moment of tribulation… this seems to be the best answer. Let me get out of this situation, at whatever cost… so that I can remain safe, secure, confident, and happy. How dangerous to think in such a way! Our eyes become fixated on the problem, and we fail to recognize the foundation we claim to have faith in.

The people at Six Flags Over Texas engineered that ride to take you safely under the wall, and never crash right into it. A first time rider may not know that… and that’s part of the excitement of the ride and all… but the thing is… at some point.. for our own health – our own sanity – we have to realize that the people that put that ride together have things under control.

Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart, a man plans his steps. But the LORD establishes his way.”

This Scripture speaks volumes to every day of my life. Each morning, we have an idea of what we’ll do. Whether that’s work, what errands to run… or even on a broader scale… what we’ll when we finish this project, or in a year from now, what we’ll accomplish. Our sinful, misguided, selfish hearts lean on what we think is best. In good times, and in bad.

Christ desires most for our complete trust and dependence to be placed on Him. The parable of the rich young ruler is not primarily about money. The point Christ tries to make is telling this guy, “Whatever it is that matters most to you, that helps you sleep at night… give that to me. That’s the Kingdom you’re asking about.”

Does Christ ask all of us to give away every penny we have? No. But he certainly asked that guy. He knew the heart of this man. His heart leaned on all the riches he had accumulated. Everything else is his life would have pointed to the false Savior or religion. He tithed, kept all the commandments, was an all around good guy. But he never placed full security in Christ for His salvation.

That’s the danger. Christ holds it all together, not even on our best day does anything we amount to even come close. Colossians 1:17. “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Christ teaches throughout his entire ministry that life isn’t about what we accomplish along the way. Christ IS life. We either trust in that… or we run in fear to our own way of thinking, to avoid what seems to us to be an epic crash. Sometimes, though, God uses the crash, damage, struggle, and heartache to build a new temple.

Have you ever heard someone talk about a domesticated tiger or a bear? I’m sure it’s not very often that someone owns one, but it’s interesting to hear what they say when explaining it. There’s always the sentence included, “Oh she’s very sweet, but despite them appearing docile, they’re still a very powerful and dangerous creature…” as if to give warning for any potential harm that could arise….

You may remember a quote from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, about Azlan, the Lion
“Well is Azlan dangerous?” “Of course he’s dangerous! But he’s good.”

In our lives we are very quick to assert ourselves as the dominant creature. Whether that be in school, a group of friends, the workplace, or our families. Yet, so many teachings of Christ plead that we should go against this grain in the fabric of society. Somewhere inside of ourselves is the desire to be primarily concerned with number one: ME. Some have made the argument that this isn’t what a loving God would do, that it’s unloving to allow us to be so entangled by such a disease of self-entitlement.

But that’s the beauty in who God is. If God’s sole purpose is to glorify Himself, and we were created in His image, then in our sinful nature, our sole purpose is to glorify ourselves. But don’t lose heart! Romans 8 talks about how God has willed from the beginning of time for us to become the image of his Son, the image he first created us in. This is good news. So we’re in the middle of this conflict within ourselves, to better promote our own image, or to submit and fulfill the image that we created intentionally for…

The bad news, (if you wanted to call it that), is the process by which we get there. Walking a life of faith is much harder than waking up early-ish on a Sunday morning and painfully forcing out smiles to the semi-familiar faces at church. Walking the life of faith God called us to is much harder than “being a good person.”

And here’s why:

God is loving, God is beautiful, God is merciful, God is full of grace.
However, God desires holiness and righteousness. If he ceased to require this, he would cease to be God.

So in the life of faith we choose to walk after Him, a very uncomfortable thing starts to happen. Just as when an object gets closer to something as majestic and powerful as the sun… that object is burned, consumed, and destroyed… until it finally arrives and is part of the burning mass of the sun itself.

Living by faith is uncomfortable many times. We feel heat rising and our instinct is to run backwards, away from the pain. Unfortunately, we too often fail at recognizing this process for what it is: our sanctification. God requires holiness, right? So in light of His requirement, a couple of things happened, 1: Christ paid for sin in order to fulfill that righteous requirement (Romans 8), 2: Our surrender to Christ’s payment for sin is also our surrender to the burning flame of God’s requirement.

I think too often we are satisfied with the first part of that, and never consider the life Christ called us to in the second part.

We’re content with saying, “Ok, Christ died for my sin… I’m ok with that. Thank you, God.”

But we’ve much more wary to say, “Christ, I surrender to you my life, and in your grace, I know you’ll take things that are not for you glory and you’ll destroy them. That might mean friends, that might mean hobbies, that might mean my job, or my possessions. But I know you require so much more than the castles I’ve built up for myself. So burn it all.”

This is why I love what Jesus says in Mark 10:13-16 about children that were coming to see Him, “Let the children come to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Think about that for a second. A child sees a tiger sleeping on the couch, they’d want to go pet it, right? A child is told that if they eat all their vegetables, they can have dessert. Children take what they hear from those around them, and bite it hook, line and sinker. Wholehearted acceptance. That’s what Christ is talking about! Children don’t care if you’re not qualified, good enough, smart enough, refined enough, or too dirty, ugly, or misguided. Receiving the kingdom of God like a child is to say,

“Yes, God. Burn it all.” As a beautiful and lovely song puts it, “You won’t relent until You have it all. God, my heart is yours.”

It’s eating your vegetables because you know the requirements for dessert. It’s saying, I know these things don’t please you, God, so in your power – not mine – ruin my life so that it glorifies you.

Love you guys,
thanks for reading
-m

“There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel’s veins
and sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains…”

Such epic imagery! A fountain splashing over the sides with blood as Christ hangs over it dripping with redemptive love…

Reminds me of Isaiah 53, and I can’t help but continue coming back to “but it was the will of Lord to crush him.” Dude… I can’t even begin to express what that means to my life. So I’ve been thinking about students going with iGo missions this summer. You guys are incredible, and I’ve been praying for you. God’s just really had you all on my mind a lot recently, and here’s something he’s showing me in Scripture this week:

2 Corinthians 4

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul has just gotten done saying guess what? We all now have unveiled faces. When we walk, the glory of God should burst forth in the world around us, because we are being transformed into the image of Christ. Awesome. He continues to say “we refuse to do anything but that which God has given us to fulfill.” He says one chapter later that our ministry is that of reconciliation: returning and pointing back to God all of which He created. Beautiful stuff. But I’ll try and stay tactful today.

I had the honor of serving as a worship leader for students entering their 12th grade year, and students entering their first year of college at Super Summer this year. The thing I probably like best about Super Summer, is that it’s clear to everyone – the students, the leaders, the staff – that our treasure does not lie in ourselves, our families, our churches, or our schools, jobs, etc. The true treasure is the Kingdom of God. Super Summer is designed to enable couch surfing Christian students to get out of their living rooms, and start proclaiming the gospel in their lives.

This is what Paul is talking about here! v. 13, “since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak…” The point is, that having heard the gospel (Romans 10:17 says “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”…) we have no choice but to speak the gospel as we go about our lives. (He also writes later in 2 Cor. “the love of Christ compels us”)

I used to think of the “gospel” as some super-cheesy religious monologue that you quoted to strangers on the street in your best preacher-voice. I still to this day think, even if only for a split second, of gospel music when I hear the word, “gospel.” For a long time, I had a misinterpretation of what the gospel even is. Yes it’s the good news, but what is the good news? We overuse all these Sunday-School-answer words and nobody can even define what they mean.

But the reality is, the beauty of the gospel is that it’s not for me. The beauty of the fountain filled with the blood of Christ is the fountain’s not for me. It’s for all nations, all peoples. 1 Peter says “it is God’s desire that no one should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Paul writes on, v.14, we speak the gospel for we know that “he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” And here’s where the bomb hits, he says “for it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

Grace was not extended to me for my sake. Salvation was not given to me for my sake. Christ’s blood doesn’t cover me for my sake. But for the sake of those who are living in darkness. All of God’s creation, which he desires to be reconciled back to himself. 1 Thessalonians 3 says, “this is the will of God: your sanctification.” As we are sanctified throughout life, we point others to what our eyes are fixed on. Paul says here in 2 Corinthians, “the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

My hope, my prayer, is that as I grow in relationship with Christ, the gospel of who He is becomes evident to the lives of people around me. And that’s my prayer for students with iGo missions this summer. That’s my prayer for students with gonow missions, world changers, youth groups, church groups, missionaries and believers across the world. Our treasure is that it all belongs to Him, not us.

Anyway, lots here. Take what you will, love what you will, share what you will. Thanks for reading.

Love you guys,
-m

I find myself frequently drawn to Isaiah when meditating on God’s design for church. Despite Isaiah being written to Israel and not the New Testament church, there are still great truths in these chapters. Something I’ve said before: the “problems” or difficulties we face today are not new. They’re not surprising God as if he hasn’t dealt with these situations before. The important thing to remember during times of struggle is that God is faithful, even when we’re faithfully not.

I love that Isaiah’s name even means: Salvation is God. Or: God is Salvation.
Thousands of years ago, “religious” people were going through the same song and dance we find ourselves in today. Our practices and our routines measure up to absolutely nothing, despite whatever level of confidence we place in them. Isaiah refers later in his book to our most honorable and righteous acts are as filth to God. We have all become unclean, and ran around with our pants down until God in His love willed that His wrath would burn against us to bring the purity He demands. And the point is: God provides Salvation. Everything else doesn’t matter.

This sounds scary but it screams security!
Despite our sin, God loved us enough that He desired for us to be like him. (Rom. 5:8)

In the past few decades, we’ve made church something that can look like whatever we desire it to be. The quickest thing I do is daydream about the way I think something should be, and sometimes never consider what God designed for it to be. This is dangerous thinking! A funny thing about this line of thinking is that God has already addressed what takes place during these situations. Don’t we believe the Bible has the solution to life? If it does, why is it that I seem to look everywhere else, including my own or others’ insight to find a solution only God can provide? Stupid, right?

So I wanted to look at the end of Hebrews 12.

The writer has just finished talking about the faith of all these great forefathers of their nation. Moses, Abraham, Abel, and Noah all followed the design God had in place for them by faith. And because they are named among us, keep running! Don’t grow weary of discipline, heartache, fatigue, or hunger. Because even these forefathers, who followed God faithfully, “did not receive what was promised.” (Hebrews 11:39) But he clarifies and says that “God had provided something better for us” that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Here’s the reality check that Paul writes about in Philippians 1 when he says “to die would be gain!” but is more necessary on your account that I remain. God’s promise of the promised land was not just to Israel. It was not just to the direct, biological descendants of Abraham. But like we read in Romans 9, it’s the children of God’s promise that are counted as heirs with Christ. Back to Hebrews 12, the chapter is closed by saying God will shake the foundations of earth and heaven and everything in them that can be shaken will be destroyed and turned to rubble. THIS will happen. And once God has spoken, all that remains will be the children of His promise. Those that have followed faithfully in the paths He’s called them to walk. All that we’ve built and accumulated will be turned to dust in the light of His glory and power.

The point here in Hebrews 12 is that God’s Kingdom cannot be shaken. Everything else is, well, meaningless (in Solomon’s words). Are we placing our security in the Kingdom? Or do we hole up inside the closets of our sanctuary, hoping they’ll withstand the destruction of His unrelenting wrath, and never enter the true peace and salvation of His sanctuary? The only one that will remain?

The last words of the chapter:

“For our God is an all consuming fire.”

I’ve been reading through Ephesians lately, and thought I’d share a few things God’s showing me.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” Ephesians 1:3-10

I absolutely love these verses. As a church staff we’ve been discussing a lot about church leadership, God’s will, and focusing our direction towards Christ alone. I’m reminded of a song:

“In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song….”

Ephesians takes a look at a lot of similar things that are permeating through the modern church even today. In our recent discussions, the church staff has even said that most people would probably say “yes, of course God gave us this church/money/etc.” But the problem isn’t what comes out of our mouths, it’s the life we live by that identifies our true intentions.

Every “spiritual blessing” (vv3) Paul writes comes from God through Christ. We may be able to say that, but does the way we live reflect it? James 1:7 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” An area of trouble we easily fall into is having a sense of entitlement. The problem is not that we have nice things, or have the ability to do nice things. The problem is that in our sin, we desire recognition, power, and success. A Pastor from Dallas said it recently this way: the reason you may struggle with the gospel is because it’s not about you. None of the gospel points to you. And it’s truth! But don’t be discouraged…

Paul says that one of our move beloved spiritual blessings is our destiny to be set apart, “holy and blameless before him.” (vv4) God loves us enough to desire for us to be like him. Different than this world. Blameless before him. We achieve that not through our efforts, but through God who loves us in Christ. A God who loves us enough to place us “before the foundation of the world” as sons adopted through Christ “according to the purpose of his will.” (vv5)

I love Jesus’ promise in Luke 12:32 where he says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God, in all of his love and “according to the riches of his grace” (vv7)  desires to bring us together as he draws us near to himself. How beautiful a picture of redemption!

It’s easy for us to become discouraged at the things that happen in our world. And some people would say, “how can a loving God let this happen?” But in the midst of the turmoil, death, poverty, and destruction is man. So the question could be asked when looking at child abuse, sexual abuse, murder, and malice…. “if man is so great, how could we let this happen.”

The point is that man is not ultimate. We have no control over the things of this world, but we should find encouragement in the fact that God has the plan for the “fullness of time” (vv9,10)in Christ.

The point is that God’s plan and the mystery of his will is not our happiness. It’s to “unite all things in him.” (vv10)

2 Corinthians 5:19 “That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.”

Photo by: Jonathan Castellino

Over the past year or so, Adamsville has been going through the book of Romans in a sermon study. It’s been a great journey so far, and I eagerly look forward to the coming months as we continue along this road.

But as churches all over the nation and world seem to notice… our sister churches are dwindling away… fading into the mist…

You can’t help be heart-broken when you think about it. What is it that has caused such heartache and deterioration in today’s churches? As I’ve been studying Romans 9, Paul seems to point out some things that have clearly been poisoning the church from the beginning:

us.

Paul opens the passage and says, “I am sorrowful, I wish that I could be cut off from Christ for sake of the Israelites… they are the adopted, they are the children of God, and they’ve missed it! I wish to be destroyed if it would help point them to Christ…”

I love when Paul feels like he should clarify something he’s already said. He follows up and says, “but God’s Word has not failed!” Redemption was not promised through the physical seed of Abraham, but through God’s promise. Paul says it like this in verse 8:

“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

We are not counted or discounted based on our genetic line. Regardless of who your parents are or grandparents, ethnicity, or religious heritage – none of that determines our redemption. (Faith, not works, right?) “We may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

So what is it that we’ve missed? Paul sums up the chapter with statements that ring frighteningly true even in the church today:

“Those who had no interest in pursuing righteousness have attained it. Those who pursued a law to obtain righteousness missed the ball, because they didn’t even succeed in reaching the law. Why? Because they’ve approached righteousness as if it were attainable by the building up of THINGS, and have left faith to be no part of the equation.”

We perpetually seek to attack the “church” problems of low attendance, low giving, or lack of converts with new programs and fun activities and forced Sunday School classes… all the while ministry by faith has nothing to do with it. We don’t do it on purpose… but our flesh pursuits get in the way of the faith God designed to flourish naturally. It’s God who has mercy. It’s God who IS mercy.

Paul references Isaiah at the end of the passage,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

I love the picture here. God says, “Guess what? In the middle of church, and ministry, and your life, I am placing a gigantic stone. You’ll stumble on it. It’ll stub your toe. It will look offensive in a place your had all interior-decorated and such. You’ll think it’s getting in the way of what YOU’RE doing. But that stone is my Son. And whoever believes in HIM will be justified.”

How awesome is that?  Despite our efforts to beautify and simplify what we call “ministry” there is this huge STONE that feels… unnatural. Because it IS unnatural. Christ protrudes in the middle of our very lives… and our instinct is to throw a drape over the big “stone of stumbling” in our sanctuaries… and try to navigate the way the Jesus.

Don’t see what we’ve been missing?
It’s the “elephant in the room.”

Christ: the stumbling stone.

Our youth Disciple Now was this past weekend. Really had a great time together. Old friends, new friends, gathering together, bringing glory to Christ. Awesomeness. To musicians, if you haven’t yet, buy some in-ear monitors, they will change your life.

Some really neat things discussed this weekend. One of the beautiful things about Scripture, is that God has already promised us that it will never return to Him void. In Isaiah 55 God says that His word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. SO cool. We’ve talked at Adamsville about perspective recently, and how our perception doesn’t always depict what reality is. In fact it most often doesn’t. This is fundamental to each our personal pursuit of ministry. Once we gain perspective, His Kingdom and His mission become much clearer in our own minds.

I listened to a sermon a few days ago, and in truth, 200 years from now, even 100 years from now, our names won’t even be remembered. Anything we’ve ever done will have been long forgotten. Feel small yet? James 4 says it beautifully, “what is your life, you are but a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

So Disciple Now this year was called “glorify.” We talked about the modern church, and how it’s deteriorating at an exponential rate. Our speaker for the weekend, Pat Cammarata mentioned the book “Comeback Churches” and how out of thousands of churches that are dying, only 300 started growing again… sound familiar? I bet each of us can name half a dozen churches that are struggling to survive right now.

Why?

I won’t pretend to be able to point to the catalyst or identify the root of the problem. But there are serious misconceptions that are generations deep in the church. I’m reminded of Piper’s statement about retirement, that the world, “uncared for medically, dying of thirst and hunger, living in poverty is being crushed under the weight of healthy 65 years old playing bridge, fishing, and golfing their way into the presence of Christ.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve all fallen victim to the illusion that life is about us. Or even that youth ministry is about students. Or senior adult ministry is about senior adults. Guess what? It’s not!

But remember what God said in Isaiah? His word goes out and will accomplish “that which I purpose.”

My text for today is from 2 Timothy 1, which I haven’t even got to yet:

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord… who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

I love this passage. Yet another reminder that the things we might have to offer to God are not why He saved. That’s not why we were called to ministry. God saved us and called us because of his own purpose. This is encouragement! Later Paul writes that he is “not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard…”

I lose perspective often and feel like when a church event, or a particular area of ministry starts to unravel that I need to buckle down and power through and save it, because that’s my responsibility in ministry. But it’s not…. Am I convinced that Jesus Christ is able to guard that which he calls His?

Our ministry focus should never primarily be our ministry.
It should be knowing Christ through our ministry.
Our ministry focus should never primarily be people.
It should be Christ made known to those people.

Love you guys,
Dnow was awesome.
share this with someone.

-m

thanks to flickr member dModer101 for this photo

Easter seems to be one of the two Sundays where even non church-goers find themselves in a pew somewhere. This is good – in a way – to see some new or unfamiliar faces inside our church doors, but doesn’t anybody ask themselves why they don’t see them the other 50 Sundays of the year?

We’ve got Easter Sunday down to a science, it seems. We know about the story, we remember the “He is Risen” soundtrack from last year’s production, and we remember the ham-and-casserole lunch the church served after services last year. And yet each year, those folks with the glazed eyes and confused looks on their faces drift right back away, and have no connection with the people of our churches!

Recently I’ve felt really convicted about the fact that even in vocational ministry, my call is not to bring people to my ministry, but to point people to Christ’s.

I wanted to read through the story leading up to the crucifixion. Today I was in Luke 19, Christ is coming down off the Mount of Olives, and begins his journey to enter Jerusalem. There’s this crowd that’s been following Jesus, from seeing Him heal a man born blind, seen Him call Lazarus out of the tomb. They rejoice and say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees (who just happened to be in the crowd) say, “teacher! rebuke your disciples!”

These cats saw that the people were once again rejoicing in Christ. Pointing to Christ. And the Pharisees allow jealousy to brew in their midst. Christ’s response is so beautiful and yet ominous,

“I tell you, if these people were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Couple of things here that’s really cool. Our first thought is that, ok… if the people didn’t rejoice in His “triumphal entry,” the very stones would cry out and rejoice. Which is awesome. Straight up, awesome.

But what if that’s not the reason the stones cry out? We see this phrase in Habakkuk 2, when the Lord reveals his plan to destroy the Chaldeans, enemies against Israel. God tells Habakkuk that He is allowing their nation to grow and rise against Israel, but only to reveal his own glory. And in their destruction as blood spills on their floors, “the very stones will cry our from the wall….”

Pretty cool, huh? See Jesus knew that in a matter of days, Jerusalem would see their own destruction. They would take a man ordained as their Savior, and spill his blood as the people cried out “crucify him!” When the Pharisees ask Jesus to get his disciples in line… his response is not in reference to the stones crying out rejoicing the Savior. They’re crying out in anguish over the destruction of their creator.

We read in Romans that “all of creation groans in eager longing for the revealing of the sons of glory,” that creation itself wishes to be set free from the corruption and bondage of sin. That’s what we’re to be crying out. That our innermost desire is for the rest of creation, our friends, and brothers and sisters, to be free from corruption and bondage. We cry out for we know of the destruction God’s wrath will ensue. We cry out to point those around us only to Christ. For in this hope we were saved.

Love you guys.
some food for thought.
comment, share on FB,
in Christ,

Marshall

In the modern Christian church, the frequency at which our perspective changes is somewhat troubling to me. One minute, we look at a mission project and feel “oh, we should really gear up and get something together to minister to these people” and then the next moment we’re red-faced and yelling about “I don’t think our money should be spend on something like that.”

It breaks my heart that our church life, our conversations, our attitude at work, and our lifestyle is so easily and readily adaptable to whatever influence leans on us. I’m as guilty as anyone else, and all the while we lose – I think – some perspective on what life really is.

Last week when I preached during youth service, we discussed some of the fundamental truths in Scripture. The foremost being that in everything, from the beginning of time, God has designed this world and everything in it to bring glory to himself. So with the same promise he gave Abraham that multitudes of nations and the entire world would be redeemed through his family line – all the way to us in this very moment right now – God desires his glory from what he has created.

Yet our perspective is: “where do I get the recognition? I’ve worked so hard for this! Why can’t we do what I’d like?”
And Christ’s perspective is:

“I died so you wouldn’t have to say or ask these things. I died so you could fulfill God’s desire to be in relationship with you…”

Isaiah 53 says,

^“4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”

Clearly this provides some new perspective. Christ has borne our griefs and sorrows, and yet we crucified him. Christ took the brunt of our punishment for sin, and we are healed from it.

Yet,

“all we, like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – everyone – to our own way.”
There’s talks and whispers in the American church today about “revivals” and revolutions, and the Spirit moving…. and all these things. And while these things are not bad or negative ideas… I heard it phrased like this once: “We cannot plan for God’s revival in His people. We cannot orchestrate the movement of His Holy Spirit. If God wills, His people will hear His call. If the Lord wills, a revival will break out across the land.”

The point of a revival is good: to “revive” the hearts of God’s people. And the idea behind that is: changing our perspective from (whatever it may be) to centered on Christ.

I guess my thought is…. Christ has pleaded with us to focus ourselves on Him, for thousands of years now. From Peter taking his eyes off Christ and falling in the water, to Christ hanging on a cross thinking “if only they knew what they were doing…” (“and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all……..”)

I’m just a little tired of the idea still floating around in our head that it’s about “my money” or “my time” or what “my family” is getting out of church, and out of a relationship with God.

If we have true faith, none of that would matter. (Time, money, family, friends, work-load) would become meaningless from the perspective of the Kingdom He desires glory from.

So let me know what your thoughts are.
What’s revival mean to you?
Is it time our perspective changed?