Time To Collect My Thoughts

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful week. I have decided to take a few days away from the blog to collect my thoughts rather than share them.

While I'm away from the blog, I pray that your heart will continue to be overwhelmed with the goodness of God. I look forward to being with you probably around the 12th of November. Feel free to look through the archives and see if there is anything that the Lord uses to encourage your life. Catch up with you soon.

Be Blessed!

Right Here, Right Now

For the better part of this day, I have had a song playing in my head by a group called Jesus Jones. Here are the lyrics:
"Right Here, Right Now
There is no other place I want to be
Right Here, Right Now
Watching the world wake up from history"

I couldn't help but think of Paul's words to the Philippian church: "I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith." (Philippians 1:23-25)

While Paul understood the reality and joy of heaven, he also understood his purpose in the earth. He had a longing to see people grow in their understanding of Christ, to see the joy of the Lord increase in their lives, and to see the church continue. It would be good for us to have this mindset and to follow after the words of Jim Elliot as well: "Wherever you are, be all there."

I have been around some believers (even young ones) that just couldn't wait to get the heck out of Dodge. It seemed as though all we talked about, sang about, or read about had to do with heaven or the rapture. What I didn't realize back then was that if we aren't careful that we could actually commit spiritual suicide. Rather than find our place in the earth, discover how God has gifted us to impact the area, and learn what it means to be a son of God in the earth, we will sit back and just wait for something better to happen.

The song that I posted above was written during a lot of changes in Europe. In particular, the fall of the Berlin Wall had so changed the landscape that it had given people incredible hope. We see things like this all the time. Events that happen that are so inspiring that you realize that you are a part of history.

What if our lives are to be more than just a mere drop in the bucket? What if there are things that God longs to do through our lives that could actually change the landscape? Do we simply want to be a part of history or would we rather be history makers? These are legitimate questions. Jesus took ordinary men, many of whom were rejected by society, and turned the world upside down. He didn't simply take them up to Heaven when He ascended. He left them in the Earth to make a difference. This can be our lives as well.

Each of us have the opportunity to partner with God to see His glory literally cover the Earth. We get to make Him know to those who do not know Him, and encourage the lives of those who do. We get to make a lasting imprint in the Earth. That's why you can never minimize your faith and your ability to change the culture. It's also the reason why you cannot sit around just wondering when you get to leave. We've all seen this happen in the natural. You go somewhere and are totally consumed with going home that you miss out on what is happening around you. A lot of Christians in that boat. Their minds are totally focused on leaving that they simply cannot enjoy today. Not only can they not enjoy today but they miss out on so many wonderful things that are happening right in front of them.

Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the good things that are happening in the Earth. And wherever you see Him at work, join Him there. You can enjoy a long and fruitful life in Him. There's no need to cut it short. Jesus promised abundant life, not just a rewarding death. Squeeze every ounce joy out of this life - enjoy it fully - cause you get to enjoy it for all of eternity.

Enjoy the journey!!!

Who/What Are We Following?

Ideology
1. The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.
2. A set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system.
Theology
1. The study of the nature of God and religious truth; rational inquiry into religious questions.
2. A system or school of opinions concerning God and religious questions.

Luke 9:49-50, "John answered and said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.' But Jesus said to him, 'Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.'"

After much thought and consideration, I am convinced that much of the disagreement/division in the church has more to do with ideology than theology. I have had several conversations with people where this has been the case. The problem is that we tend to become so tied to our ideology that it becomes a part of our theology. In other words, what we believe becomes our Bible and anything outside of our belief system is a cause for division.

Some people may not have a problem with this approach to life but I see it as an extremely narrow way of doing relationships. This approach can be especially true in denominational life. In America, especially, we have all of these Protestant churches running around with the belief that there way of thinking and believing is the only way. They have a specific set of doctrines and practices that we must line up with or we cannot dwell together in unity. It's not enough to agree 99% on the same core beliefs but there must be 100% agreement or else. It has gotten so bad in some areas that a person isn't even considered a brother/sister in Christ unless they are a part of a particular fellowship of believers. I have often wondered what would happen if you could get pastors together from all the different denominations, have them share from their core beliefs, find the places of agreement or disagreement, and whether or not they would consider these other pastors a part of the faith family. It's at least something to consider.

The point that I want to make in all of this is that we do have some common ground. I don't have to be a part of a particular assembly of people, nor do I have to prescribe to a particular set of beliefs. The commonality of all sons and daughters of God should be and always has been Jesus. He is our common denominator. He is the Author & Finisher of OUR faith. I'm not saying that we have to agree with everything that everyone is practicing in their faith but the time has come for us to stop demonizing every church or pastor that we do not agree with. There comes a time in each of our lives where we must believe what Jesus told His disciples: "Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you."

Somewhere in this journey of life you will discover that there are genuine followers of Jesus that do not believe the same way that you do. You know this to be true because the evidence of His Spirit is so clear in their lives. The question you should not ask is whether or not you two agree on everything but can you agree on the one main thing...that Jesus is enough!

I'm fortunate in that denominational division has never really been an issue for me. I grew up in Baptist and Disciple of Christ churches. I was saved while being a part of an Independent Baptist Church, baptized as a part of a Southern Baptist Church, and worshiped frequently with members of the Church of God. I have friends who are pastors in almost every denomination and non-denomination. I have other friends who are of the same multi-denominational background. We all agree on the major points of faith. We understand that God sent Jesus in the world to be the atoning sacrifice for sin. We all agree that it is through faith in Him that we are saved. We believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is available to all who believe. We all believe in being a witness of Jesus to the earth. We also believe that there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. To put it another way, we all believe that Jesus is the main thing.

This approach to life and fellowship has allowed me to see relationships strengthened rather than weakened. I have been able to encounter the Lord through people of various backgrounds and they through me. There is genuine love, respect, and encouragement in our lives. Why? Because we don't believe that someone has to fall into our ideology to be considered a brother or sister in Christ. We don't have to listen to the same types of music, dress a certain way in church, read a particular version of the Bible, or practice our faith the exact same way. We don't even have to agree on how we split theological hairs but can appreciate the fact that we are walking in relationship with Jesus and one another.

This is how we experience the person of the Lord in our lives. We don't believe that Jesus is only blessing our denomination, or our practice of the faith. We have discovered Him everywhere - meeting people in their pursuit of Him. He's showing up in the lives of passionate worshipers. People are being saved, taught, and grown in their love of the Savior. Sure...it may look different than it does at your place but it does not negate the authenticity of their faith. It's no different than how you operate in your home. I don't know anyone in my current relationships that do not love their children. They want to give their child the best life possible. They want to see them grow up to be strong, respectable, and caring adults. These parents desperately want their children to grow up in the faith. However, the way they parent is not always in line with how I parent. They do things differently. They have some different core values in their home than I have in mine. The reality that I have to get a hold of is that they are legitimate parents to legitimate children. If this is true in our homes then why can it not be true in our churches? In fact, the only time this isn't true in parenting is when you have someone who is tied to a certain ideology when it comes to how we raise our kids (and I think most of us have experienced that in some form or another).

Why not begin to see our brothers and sisters for who they really are: Our Brothers and Sisters!!!
Let's appreciate the faith that they walk in.
Let's encourage them in their pursuit of the Lord.
Let's bless them, pray for them, love them, and even seek community with them.
We may never agree on everything but we can agree on Jesus being the main thing.

Who or What are we following is a legitimate question. May we be found following after Jesus. He is the main thing.

Removing the Dross & Challenging Mindsets

If you haven't heard me share this before then I think you will be in for a challenge. The reason that I'm sharing it today is because the Lord has reminded me of His activity in our lives. The Bible often presents Him as a refiner's fire. The question remains on how we will handle the dross.

The ideas that I'm getting ready to put forward have been some of the most challenging things I have experienced in my relationship with God. I'm sure that I have spoken about this subject on the blog and in sermons but it's good to be reminded. The thought of God as a refiner's fire can be difficult for some of us to understand. This is especially true if your belief about God is that He is always at odds with you. However, if you think of Him as a good Father then you will be able to experience this with a whole different attitude.

I'm not a silversmith but from what I have read is that metal is heated to the point that it melts down to a liquid. In this liquid form, dross comes to the surface and has to be removed. This is how we get silver to it's purest form. Once the dross is removed then the liquid can be poured into a mold. After it has cooled off and polished then you have something beautiful to behold. For the silversmith this process has nothing to do with his hatred of the raw material but actually a zeal for what it can become.

This is exactly how the Lord works in your life. When he applies the heat of His love toward you it causes the dross in your life to come to the surface. I have actually seen people experience the presence of the Lord and nasty things come out of them. Why? It's the refiner's fire. What we don't want to do is stop short of the process or get caught up looking at the dross. We actually need to allow Him to remove it from our lives so that we can be brought into our purest form.

Here's where the challenge comes in:
I have actually heard the Lord say this in my own life. I asked him one time why I responded in a certain way to a situation and He told me that He was actually drawing close to me. When He came near it caused this junk to come to the surface because He wanted to take it away. The challenge to your mindset will be whether or not you can believe that sin was actually just the wrong response to Him? That's right...I just said that!!! Can you believe that someone responded in anger simply because it came to the surface? Can you believe that someone responded in manipulation or control because it was time for it to be removed? Or what if someone actually turned to porn because they didn't realize that the Lord was drawing them into intimacy? The reality in all of these situations is that what caused all of this junk to rise to the surface was because of the nearness of His presence. I have had several conversations with strong believers who have experienced this very thing. What if the angry person chose to walk in love instead? What if the controlling person chose to walk in trust instead? What if the person who chose to watch porn chose intimacy with the Lord instead? If these people would have responded to the person of Jesus then He could remove the other issues from their life. These things that come up - when we allow the Lord to have His perfect work in us - can be removed and us molded into our perfect form.

I realize that this a challenging way to think. Especially if you think that God cannot be in the presence of sin. However, this is often when the Lord is the closest to us. This is possible because He dealt with sin at the cross. It's also possible because of His zeal to see us conformed into the image of His Son. He has an excitement over seeing us reach our potential. He knows what He has designed us for and He is committed to seeing it come into being. You are His work of art in the earth. Allow Him to draw near. Allow Him to remove any impurity in thoughts or actions. Allow Him to conform you into the image of Jesus.

Enjoy the process and enjoy the journey. His is for you!!!

Sowing In Relationships

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." [Galatians 6:7-8]

I shared this as a sermon on Sunday but wanted to refresh even my own thinking through a blog post.

So often we hear verse seven of Galatians six negatively. You will even hear these words coming through the mouths of people who may not understand the biblical implications: "Well...you reap what you sow!" How many times I have said it in my own life when people lose a job, destroy a relationship, etc. I'm actually asking the Lord to help me with this. The challenge is to see these words positively. To understand that we can sow GOOD seed. We can sow things that bring life rather than death. Not only is it a challenge to see these verses in a positive light, it's a challenge to live them out from time to time. However, the benefits are enormous.

What if...
We didn't allow negative words to dominate our conversation?
We didn't cultivate a negative mindset about someone?
We allowed encouragement to come out of our mouths?
We praised someone rather than cut them down?

These are just a few ways that we can learn to sow goodness into the life of someone else. Rather than just simply focusing on the negatives, we can actually see the opposite of them in the Spirit and call them out. For instance, if you know someone who is always critical we know that the Spirit of God wants to do the opposite. You can actually speak to that in a person's life and make a lasting impression. In light of this verse, if what we are sowing is seed, then we get to choose what seed is sown.


If we follow through the context of these verses, we will discover that Paul is actually talking about sowing in much broader terms. He talks about giving generously and then begins to discuss that same generosity as it relates to the people in our lives. When I realize that every morning I can choose to speak life into an individual or a circumstance, then eventually I will reap what that seed produces. The question is whether or not we will run out of patience in the process.

One of the members of PBC was actually talking about this in context of a relationship at work. There was a guy that he often saw in passing that just looked miserable. It didn't matter how many times he tried to be friendly to him, it wasn't making a difference. It became a major issue of prayer for him because he honestly felt like the guy needed some encouragement in his life. So he set out to make it a point to speak, be friendly, and trust God for the results. Over the course of a few weeks my friends patience was wearing thin. He had been greeting the guy in such a way that it couldn't be shrugged off but he just wouldn't do much more than grunt. It got to the point where he didn't even want to try anymore. This guy was apparently outside of the reach of God. Right? Well...one day my friend ran into the guy somewhere in the workplace. He had already decided he was done trying to reach out to him. However, the guy began speaking to him. It wasn't a monumental shift in the environment but he was able to see the hard exterior cracking. And to think that my friend had almost given up completely!

Never underestimate the power of goodness flowing from your life.
Don't underestimate the ability of God to demonstrate love through you.
Choose to impart life to someone today and wait for the harvest. It may not show up in the person that you are sharing with but you will reap a harvest if you do not faint.

Make this a part of your journey this week. Find someone to bless, love, and encourage. You will discover that every day can be an adventure and in the process you will be sowing life into them.