Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Psalm 107:1, "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." [NLT]

As we prepare for our Thanksgiving celebrations tomorrow, I am truly grateful for the family and friends that God has given. I am thankful for the simplicity of Christ, the goodness of God, and His unfailing love toward us. To quote Brennan Manning, "My deepest awareness of myself is that I am completely loved by Jesus Christ and I have done absolutely nothing to earn it or deserve it."

May your hearts be full this Thanksgiving.
May God's peace rest upon your homes.
May His love overwhelm you.

The Simplicity of Christ

Young's Literal Translation of 2 Corinthians 11:3 reads, "and I fear, lest, as the serpent did beguile Eve in his subtilty, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in the Christ." It's something that each of us should consider.

Paul's desire for the Corinthian church was that he would be able to present them as a "pure virgin to Christ." He did not want them to be tainted by the false prophets, apostles, or gospels that had begun circulating within the church. And to put it quite bluntly, the false prophets, apostles, and gospels had something in common: They all required more of the individual than Paul's gospel.

The revelation that Paul had received from the Lord is quite simple. It was steeped in faith righteousness. This message was very hard for the Judaizers of his day to swallow. Unwilling or unable to accept this notion stirred up a zeal within them to protect what they believed to be so holy and right in the earth. That is why we read Paul's letters and find him addressing such things as circumcision, feasts/festivals, and what people eat. These teachings had already started poisoning the minds of the churches that he had established.

The way Paul describes this situation in 2 Corinthians 11 provides us with some incredible insights for our own lives as well. Think with me about the simplicity of Christ. The simplicity of Christ in the Gospel message is that He came, died on the Cross for the sins of the world, was buried, rose again, and now offers His life to each and every one of us. It was His blood that was sufficient. It was His sacrifice that paved the way for each of us to return to the Father. It was His resurrection that loosed the hold of death on humanity. Jesus WAS/IS enough!!! The idea that anything other than confessing Jesus as Lord and belief in Him was necessary to obtain salvation was foreign to the mind of Paul. He clearly heard the Lord's heart as it relates to what God had accomplished through His Son. He conveyed that message quite clearly in this letter: "God was in Christ reconciling Himself to the world." This was the Good News that Paul preached - the simplicity of Christ.

Is that the Gospel that you have heard? Is it your understanding that Jesus' death was enough? Was Jesus punished adequately for the sin of humanity? Was the wrath of God upon sin poured out on Jesus? If the answer to these questions for you is "YES" then be grateful that you have been able to hear the TRUTH of the Good News.

Another interesting aspect of this verse lies in the word translated as "simplicity." It can also be translated as oneness. This makes sense as you think about how the serpent deceived Eve. He went after her oneness with the Father. He will do the same with us as well. When you begin to see yourself in Christ - believing that all that He accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection is enough - then you will find a place of rest in your oneness with the Father. You will understand that His forgiveness is not based upon your performance but what Jesus did. You will rejoice over the fact that Jesus' death was sufficient and that His resurrection accomplished far more than you could ever understand. But be careful with how you handle this knowledge because the enemy of your soul will always look for ways to pull you away from it. He will always try to get you to see yourself as less than what God had intended for you to enjoy.

I pray that the church will return to the simplicity that is in Christ. Why is it that man seems to complicate things so much? Enjoy the simplicity of the Gospel. Rest in the simplicity of God's love for you. Enjoy the simplicity of Christ in your life, your family, and your relationships.

During this week of Thanksgiving - be amazed at the goodness of God in the Gospel. Celebrate with your families over the wonderful news of your redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation to God in Christ. I will catch up with you next week. Be blessed and enjoy the love of God for you.

More Healthy Church Family Stuff

When I attended Bible College we had to read a book entitled "Healing the Dysfunctional Church Family" and it was quite the eye opener. The book provided some wonderful insight into what people carried into church life with them. This may be hard for the average attender to see during regular services, but many pastors understand the importance of healthy families within the church.

[I appreciate the incentive but I wonder if the person who created this sign really knows what they are asking for]

Healthy families are crucial to healthy church families. It's really hard for us to be the "one big happy family" that Peter spoke of when we haven't come into that reality in our own homes. Whether we choose to see this or not, healthy spousal and parental relationships will make a huge difference in how we relate to one another in the spiritual family. If honor, unconditional love, grace, and mercy haven't been handled properly in the home - they will not be evident in God's house.

I have told our PBC Family that their home is their church. We now know the role that Fathers have in representing the heart of God to their children and spouses. Siblings play an integral part in how we understand Jesus. Mothers teach us how to relate to the Holy Spirit. While this may not be true in every home, it's amazing what people reveal about their understanding of the Godhead that is directly tied to how they interact within their natural families.

Dads - learn how to carry the Father heart of God.
Your role in the family is crucial. God has allowed us to be the spiritual heads of our families. This doesn't mean we are control freaks who cannot handle disobedience or disrespect. I mean...look at how God handles ours. Instead, we must spend some time with our Heavenly Father so that we may display His heart. We are more than just Providers and Protectors. We are a lens through which our families experience God. When dads are always busy with other things, rough in their dealings with the family, or not present - our kids especially will have a mental image of God that says they cannot count on Him.

Moms - allow the Holy Spirit to nurture you so that you may nurture others.
The Holy Spirit is referred to as a Comforter which makes perfect sense. His presence guides us, speaks to us, teaches us, and brings us along in the journey. Is not this the role of the mother in any family? Where do the kids run to when they are hurt? Where do they look for reassurance? The way in which a mother handles this role can create a comfort level with the Holy Spirit unlike any other relationship. It can also cause great damage in how we relate to Him. If a mother is distracted, concerned only about herself, and disregards the needs of the family - it can carry over into what we believe about the Holy Spirit.

Siblings - you carry the heart of Jesus in a unique way - find the grace to make it a reality.
I once asked the Lord about a specific time in my life where I wanted to see Him at work. It was during the time when my mother left my father and I just needed some reassurance that God was with me. As I prayed about this, the Lord showed me that He was very present in my brother during that time of my life. I was overwhelmed to find Jesus in him and also sad that I didn't recognize it at the time. Healthy relationships among our children are important. It is through this natural part of the family that we learn how to interact with Jesus. It's one of the main reasons that I constantly teach my kids the words of Jesus. What He conveys, we as siblings get to carry.

Don't misunderstand me in all of this. We have found that even people with a dysfunctional family have somehow still received a proper view of the Godhead. Their understanding may be more tied to a grandparent, a cousin, or a close family friend but they got it and for that we are thankful. Even in the most dysfunctional families children can still receive a pretty good mental image of Father, Son, & Holy Spirit at least in some area. I'm just not a big fan of creating an environment for our families where they have to overcome so much to see God for who He really is.

Also, how we handle conflict in the home is crucial to how we handle conflict in the church. Our ability to forgive, extend grace, show mercy, and give love without condition in our homes will be the way we do these things in the church. It was the reason for the book that I read in college. To heal the dysfunctional church family means that we have to see healing in the dysfunctional families that come through the doors of our buildings. That is why it is so important to help build healthy family relationships.

Take some time to evaluate what can be different in the home. Ask the Lord to show you areas where you could carry His heart in a much better way. Consider ways that we can bring our kids into an encounter with the Lord through our lives. I promise you that if this is what you want, Papa will partner with you. He loves nothing more than to see a family that learns to carry His presence, His affection, His grace, and His mercy. It is my belief that this is where it all begins in the first place. We are our children's first encounter with the Creator. Let's make it a good one!!!

Leading or Fathering? ~ Mark Durniak

Mark Durniak is a friend of mine who pastors in Pennsylvania. He wrote a wonderful article for his church family that speaks to the need of spiritual fathers in the church versus leaders. I have personally witness Mark's role as a spiritual father in his church and it's quite refreshing. The image below comes from a book by Larry Kreider (which I have not read). I'm just grateful that this type of message is going out for the church. My hope is that you will be encouraged to ask where you are in the journey.

I and the Father are one. - Jesus, John 10:30

What does leadership look like in the church? We know what it actually looks like right now. Pastors, pastoral staff, boards, directors, deacons, five-fold ministry team, maybe home group leaders, etc…

The question still needs answered from the perspective of spirit, from that of heaven. Where is the spirit strength for generational transfer derived from? What is the vehicle of real power and influence for ongoing life in the church?

The truth is that position does not mandate influence. Someone who has a title denoting a leadership position cannot assume that people follow them. The abundant life meant for the church begins with Jesus and must flow with the least amount of hindrance.

The “title” or name Jesus gives His leader is key to understanding true church leadership. Jesus’ authority was His Father. Fathering, therefore, is the essence of leadership influence. Jesus emulated His leader when He said When you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. We must assume that the “way” of Jesus was fathering.

Jesus was clear that we have but one Father. Even Jesus would not assume a role not meant for Him. That said, His “way”, His culture, was fathering. I am convinced that this culture is the purest form of leadership in Christianity.

Fathering means to lead in the way of the Father. Sons, children may see a person as a father but everything in a “Jesus father” points them to their true Father.

There is no owning of a son, no demand for respect or obedience from them because a father realizes that these are all sons of his Father. The only honor worthy of a father is that which is freely given to him. Jesus willingly submitted Himself. Required submission is not submission at all. It is slavery.

The fruit of fathers is sons. The primary characteristic of a son is the likeness of the father and the resulting maturity. A son is unique in his calling, but his nature and culture is of the father. A son’s identity is released by a father, not created by him. That privilege is solely the heavenly Father’s.

A positional leader, a professional minister, will not have this priority, to nurture and release the potency of others. They will see themselves as teachers, as counselors and as dispensers of gifting. If a person is helped, if they are more knowledgeable, they as a leader have succeeded. Such leaders find identity in their followers ongoing need of them. This creates permanent followers that help the leader achieve his goals.

When leadership is about the leader, there is little heart connection to those he leads. The result is easy disconnection. It’s why many great leaders leave churches for other ones. They see greater opportunity to release their gifting to a greater audience. This leaves his previous people confused as their connected heart has severed ties.

Such a culture is foreign to a father. The life of a son is a father’s world. To leave sons would literally kill him. Fathers don’t leave sons. Sons are sent out by fathers.

Fathers seek transformation. Their fulfillment comes when the son grows to no longer depend upon him. Instead, need transitions to partnership, to oneness. I and the Father are one. A beautiful interdependence exemplified in Jesus and His Father.

As sons mature, the joy of the father is to come alongside the son to influence his leadership and fathering. A son’s honor is desiring the father’s influence. Fathers are secure enough to do this because their pleasure is not the son’s need of him, but in his ongoing becoming.

Imagine a church lead in such a way. An ongoing cycle of fathers releasing sons to be fathers. Fathers influencing other fathers and sons in the nature and culture of our heavenly Father.

This is the surest way for the abundant life of Jesus to flow with the least amount of resistance. Fathers, who are sons, making way for more sons. Sons making way for THE FATHER. This being the greatest honor they could bestow upon their earthly fathers. This is the heart of Jesus in men.

Admittedly, this is an unusual culture compared to much of the modern-day church. But I see a generation of great ones. I see myriads of Christ-leaders, not Christ-followers. These are the sons, walking in the full nature of their Father, for which the earth is groaning.

You have not many fathers. This is not an accepted fact by Paul, but an indictment upon a failing leadership style. He was responding to the cry of orphaned children.

Stop following a leader. Become a son who becomes a father.

Church Family? (Recapturing the Vision)

The Living Bible paraphrases 1 Peter 3:8 in this way: "You should be like one big happy family, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds." I've always enjoyed this understanding because I believe it fully appreciates the culture that church should create.

When it comes to church life, culture is important. The culture we want to create will ensure the quality and quality of life that is produced. What we often discuss with our church family is that the nature of the church will determine the structure. If the church is simply an organization then it will be structured accordingly (typically from the top down). However, when we discover that the church is a living, breathing, organism then our structure will be radically different. Above any other description that we could give of the church, the one thing I see in Scripture is how they were a family.

Sure...there are other descriptions: Fellowship, Body, Flock. But I believe what we see in the book of Acts clearly represents the family or community understanding of the church. The way they interacted, shared life together, and built one another up in the faith is not representative of a club but that of genuine family. As a family we are governed by love, invested in honor, live in harmony, and led by fathers/mothers. We learn what it means to invest in one another. And...as a family, we relate to one another on a much deeper level.

Establishing a strong church family is a matter of the will. In other words, we must choose to do life this way. It's crazy to me that we even have to have this conversation but just look at how the church operates in our present culture. Many pastors are more like CEO's rather than fathers. The church is very structured rather than flowing with life. Relationships are superficial for the most part rather than being a primary focus. It is for this reason and this reason alone that I choose to view the church as a family of believers. I long to see the community that has been lost by our current structures. I realize that those words get used more often than not to describe churches but the reality is that people do get lost in the shuffle.

Establishing a strong church family is also a matter of the heart. This means that we learn how to open our lives to one another. This is quite difficult for some people. But when we learn to allow love to be the governing force in our lives, it will make heart to heart connections much easier. People need to know that church is a safe place. It's a family where we are allowed to be ourselves, share our concerns, receive/give love, and grow in relationships. You see, I can join about any civic club in the community but never have a heart connection with anyone. However, it is impossible to be the church without these connections. Jesus told His disciples that the world would know that they were His by the love they showed to one another. Love opens our lives, expresses genuine concern, and creates an environment where people can thrive.

One of the other aspects of church family that I appreciate is that it moves us away from the hierarchies that we often see. Instead, we choose to appeal to people as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. We recognize the commonality of life that we have in Jesus. We honor one another not because of a title but because of the person that God created them to be. In most leadership models we simply submit to authority because that is the way it is. In a family we submit to a father who has exposed his heart to us. The dynamic of this relationship is quite different. What it produces in the people is quite different as well. Fathers & Mothers raise up Sons & Daughters not just followers. These sons & daughters grow to maturity and carry the legacy of the family wherever they go. In this culture, we actually send out multiple sons and daughters which advances the kingdom much quicker and creates an environment that draws people to the ecclesia once again.

It is my prayer that the church regain this understanding of the church and recapture God's vision for His children. May the prayer of Jesus be fulfilled in our generation: "The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are one" [John 17:22].

Establishing Your Heart

"As He also says in Hosea:
'I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not My beloved.
And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
You are not My people,
There they shall be called sons of the living God.'" [Romans 9:25-26]

To borrow a phrase (yet again) from Henry Blackaby: "The names of God reveal the nature of God." And what do we know about God? We know that He does not operate outside of His nature. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. Why is this important as it relates to establishing your heart? It's important because if you question who God really is then you will always struggle to rest in Him. In the area of faith righteousness, you must firmly believe that God is who He says He is, has done what He has said He has done, and will be faithful to carry it out in your life.

One of the names of God that has been revealed to us is: Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness. This is pivotal in understanding what faith righteousness is all about. It's all about God being whom He has always wanted to be in our lives. I believe that He has always wanted to be the righteousness that we live in. That our right standing with Him was never about carrying out a specific set of rules and standards but honestly living in relationship with Him. The Law in many ways revealed the heart of God but what the Jewish people did with His standards went way beyond His original intent. They actually created laws to keep you from breaking the Law. Therefore, righteousness was reduced to a standard or a way of life and was completely dependent upon what you did or how you performed. All the while, never realizing, that this is who God has wanted to be for His people.

The Lord is comfortable being your righteousness. He understands the weakness and frailty of man. He has longed to live in relationship with us since the days of creation. To see God outside of relationship is to limit Him to being a Divinity that is occupied with rules. Which I don't believe was ever the case. What God told Israel was that He had placed before them life and death/blessing and cursing. If they chose to walk in life, it would produce blessings. If they chose to walk in death, it would bring a curse. It happened exactly the way God said it would. Read their history. They always had a choice to walk in Him.

And on that note, I want to bring you to the place of establishing your heart in Him. You have a choice. What I am about to share with you will produce life and blessing in you over and over again. What you believe will determine how you behave. And what I'm after in your heart (and mine) is that we function from a proper perspective. What Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection is far more reaching than we have understood. What He accomplished, He offers to us. What He gained is ours to enjoy. But if we continue to live in the place of questioning our righteousness then we will never be able to establish our hearts in the heart of God.

The most common practice of establishing our hearts in righteousness is taking "in Christ" verses of Scripture and saying them over and over again until your faith is moved to believe it. As simple as this may sound, it will take some time for you to believe it. Why? Because you have believed lies for so long. Rome wasn't built in a day and a healthy mindset isn't either. It will take some time, but I can guarantee you that it is well worth it. The more my heart has become convinced that what God says about me is true, the more I live from that place. Therefore, righteousness isn't something that I create but something that flows from the very core of who I am in Him. Does that make sense? Think about it this way: If you are a mother or a father but struggle to believe that about yourself you will always struggle as a parent. Once your heart is convinced of this fact, you can begin to father or mother your children. We typically see this happen negatively. Someone has a child but have convinced themselves they are not ready to be a parent. What comes out of their life? Everything else but being a parent. However, once we establish our hearts in that position of being a father/mother then what flows out of our life looks like parenting. This may seem like a poor example but the reality of being a parent came for me when I held my child in my arms for the first time. I looked into her eyes (16 years ago yesterday), my heart was moved, and I determined that I would be everything that little girl needed. When you look into the heart of God and allow your heart to be moved by what He says about you, then you can determine to live from that place. You will allow God to define you and the rest will take care of itself.

Sure...there will be times that you have to go back into that quiet place and re-establish yourself. It happens to the best of us. However, the more you do it - the more you convince your heart that you are truly in Him - the more your life will reflect that position. Sin no longer becomes the issue it once was because righteous people have died to sin. It's all about learning to see things from God's perspective. Sin becomes what God says it is. Holiness becomes what God meant for it to be. Everything about our lives will flow from His heart. We learn how to be and not just perform.

Imagine the joy of the Gentiles when they began to hear the words of Hosea being proclaimed over their lives. For centuries they were outside of the covenant of promise, outside of the blessings of Israel, and strangers to all that was God. But now they were His people and His beloved. I'm sure there were times when they had to stop and shake themselves. Could this be true? And all we have to do is read about the explosion of church growth that happened throughout the book of Acts to see how the Gentiles rose to the occasion and embrace this incredibly Good News. It wasn't easy. It wasn't without problems. However, when persecution came to the Jewish church, they were able to find community within the Gentile fellowships. This was a visible demonstration of what Paul celebrates in the letter to Ephesus, the mystery being displayed, that God would create "one new man" in Christ, Jew and Gentile together in Him. What a beautiful thing.

Take some time to discover the In Christ verses for yourself. Here's a website that can help:
http://www.ficm.org/index.php?command=textwhoamiinchrist
Get to work (lol). Get to the work of establishing your heart. Be moved in your faith. Be excited about all that God will do in and through your life in the process. Your life is getting ready to change!!!

An Unbelieving Believer?

Welcome back to PBC Voice!!! After taking a much needed break to collect my thoughts, I want to talk a little bit about a new format for the blog. In an attempt to help people grow in their understanding, I'm going to use the blog as a follow up to the messages I share with the PBC Family. I hope this time of reflection will be beneficial to your life. In the message from this past Sunday, I wanted to help people overcome what I believe to be the biggest stronghold of unbelief in the church. You may be shocked to discover that our churches are filled with unbelieving believers - at least in certain areas. The biggest area of unbelief? We struggle to believe that we are really in Christ.

"What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
'Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.'" Romans 9:30-33

One of the peculiar things that I have discovered in church life is that we often struggle with the same things that the children of Israel struggled with. I'm starting to understand why Paul said that what we see at work in the Jewish people of the Old Testament happened as an example for us and was written for our instruction. When it comes to the area of faith righteousness, I have seen the church often struggle with the very same things the Jews of Paul's day struggled to understand. That is...we are declared righteous through faith.

Most people in the church believe that faith is critical in salvation, but often turn to works as a means to being justified, holy, and/or righteous. What we have failed to understand, or believe, is that in Christ all of this is made available.

According to the Bible, in Christ we are:
Accepted
Loved
Holy
Righteous
Blameless
Justified
Sanctified
etc.
There is nothing that we can add to or take away from what Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Everything that we could ever hope to be is found in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." This is the beauty of God's heart for us. Jesus bore what we could not bare, accomplished what we could not accomplish for ourselves, and has made this life available for everyone.

Romans 10:3 brings us to the heart of the matter: "For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Please hear these words: "CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!" There is no law that can make you righteous. If there was, Paul declared that God would have given it. Instead, He offered us the life of His Son. It is in Him and Him alone. We believe it, receive it, and allow His life to flow through us.

The reason that I said this is the biggest stronghold of unbelief is quite simple: Look at how people live.
Are they really secure in their salvation?
How do they respond to the Father when they sin?
What is their sense of self-worth in Christ?
Are they experiencing the grace and love of God on a continual basis?
The list could go on and on but the reality is that there are a lot of unbelieving believers in the church. They struggle on a daily basis to really see themselves in Christ. This reality has produced a ton of churches that never rise to the occasion. They never move beyond the salvation experience because they continually see themsleves as lacking in some area. They don't really believe that they have everything they need for life and godliness through His divine power inside them. Just enough faith to get saved but not enough faith to experience the abundant life in Christ.

I have spent the majority of my life in churches that believe in eternal security (the belief that when a person is genuinely saved that they are secure in that salvation). However, it is in those same churches that I was continually told to question whether or not I was genuinely saved. Does this make sense? This message is usually the result of some frustrated pastor who questions the validity of people's faith because of what they aren't doing rather than what they are doing. That may sound crazy to you, but I've done this in the past myself. Rather than understanding that the reason many people don't do what we think they should might be based upon the fact that they don't feel secure in their faith, it's much easier to question whether or not they are truly saved. This creates double-minded people who are in the words of Scripture "unstable in all their ways." What if we took the time to help people become grounded in their identity? It is my firm belief that if I can help someone become secure in who they are in Christ, the rest will take care of itself. Rather than working for something, we work from something. Viewing ourselves as righteous in Christ will allow His righteousness to flow from our lives. The change is not what we are doing but the perception that we are working from.

I will have more to say about this over the next couple of days. My encouragement to you is that you would reinforce in your heart who you really are. You are not outside of the grace of God. You are not who you used to be. You are in Christ and He is in you. Live from that place and be amazed at the peace, love, security, and hope that you find there. Your life will never be the same.