Evidences Of God's Grace

The Corinthian church was truly jacked-up.  Yet Paul starts his letter off to them recognizing all the evidences of grace in their lives (1 Cor.1:1-7).  What are the evidences of God's grace in your life?  If you are married this makes for great conversation and great thoughts before bed.  If you are single this makes for great conversation with yourself. 

Paul was "separated to the gospel" the word separated is "pharisee". Pharisees were a sect of Jewish religionists who focused on what they would try not to do.   Paul used to be separated by focusing on things not to do.  Now he is "phariseed" to the gospel.  Focusing on your sin will never free you from it.  Focusing on something more enticing than sin--namely, Jesus will free you.  

All You Can Do Is Cry

Crying is such a blessing from God.  Last night as my boys sat on my lap in my office listening to Bon Iver I just broke down and cried.  I realized that in my sin and folly I could have so easily missed out on these blessings.  In my sin and folly, God could have left me to my self.  In my sin and folly, God could have let me be what I wanted to be, and become what I wanted to become.  It's in those moments, when the only proper thing to do-- is cry.  Why God has intervened in my life I have no known reason--it has all been grace.  He has literally snatched me out of the fire.  I am so thankful.  I am beyond thankful.  Heaven is going to rock, and I have tasted a glimpse in the now and not yet.  If you are reading this blog and wondering what the answer to life is....it is not family....it's not sex.....it's not money.....it's not comfort....it's not lack of suffering....it's not spirituality.....the answer to life is Jesus.  He is the messiah, he loves so deep and pure, in a way this world cannot describe.  He was crucified on my behalf to save me from myself.  You need to know my Jesus.
Isaiah 53:6 "We all went astray like sheep; we have all turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all."
My boys always want things repeated, "daddy read it again, do it again, sing it again",  the gospel is something that will never tire in a world full of everything that tires.

Show People The Real Jesus by Jacob Balint

One of the unique things about my job is that I get to go into the houses of the sick and elderly and see how they live. I meet them on there turf where they are fragile, hurting, and often times watching death creep closer everyday. The ministry opportunities in this environment are obvious although I am usually oblivious. I regretably spend most of my time in a hurry and more concerned with my job, rather than the people, and how God wants to use me in their lives. It is a struggle everyday for me to get my head in the game and focus on kingdom work instead of being paralyzed by stress and deadlines.
The other day I went into the house of a lady that I was not to familiar with. As I was led into her bedroom by her caregiver, I was met by two huge statues hovering over her bed. Mother Mary on the left. Jesus Christ on the right. References to God or Jesus on walls, coffee mugs, and refrigerator magnets are not an uncommon sight in the houses of the older generation, but this was a little over the top. They stared down at me like they were going to pounce at any second. We didn't talk much while I was servicing her equipment. She was enthralled in her soap opera and could care less if I as there. When I finished my work I went to her bedside to get a signature from her. She struggled to sign her name. She was obviously in pain and her lack of hair was the sign of her battle with cancer. "Oh mercy" she said as she scribbled her name. And than with bitterness and harsh sarcasm in her voice she mumbled, "Like mercy has ever done any good for me." I froze for a second, saw the oppurtunity, tried to figure out how her statement fit in with the statues of Jesus and Mary, thanked her, and left. That was it. I just left. As I drove away I kicked myself for not using that oppurtunity to tell her about the real Jesus. The Jesus who shows mercy in millions of ways every day. That even in our pain and suffering, there is reason to rejoice.
The next stop on my route was a lady that I see every week. She also battles cancer and is on the road to recovery. She always greets me with a smile and is very nice. I started in with small talk about the weather and her two little dogs. She transitioned my planned out conversation into an update on her health. She explained how her cancer was in three different spots on her chest and a big spot behind her thyroid but the radiation was doing wonders. All was well and comfortable until she threw a curveball. "I let Satan into my chest, that's how the cancer got there. I let my gaurd down and he came right in. I've been trying really hard lately to keep him out so he doesn't spread the cancer." Huh? At first I thought I heard her wrong but she kept going on with something about how she shaved her head so Satan can't get in through her hair. I was very confused and baffled by what she was saying but I just stood there listening and nodding my head like I agreed with her. I wanted to tell her about the real Jesus. That Jesus was greater than Satan and bigger than her cancer. That Jesus had conquered death. That He is restoring all things back to Himself and that her life fits within that story. But I didn't. I had her sign her name, and I left.
I have been pondering and meditating on these encounters since that day. This is what God has shown me:
The harvest in plentiful- There are people who I cross paths with everyday who have not understood, or even heard the gospel. People who are hungry for hope and searching for answers.
Be ready in season and out of season- I have no clue what divine appointments and oppurtunites await me each day and I must always be ready to give an answer for the gospel.
Act on these oppurtunites- Peoples souls are at stake and I have been chosen for this mission. He has placed me in this job at this time to speak His name and show His charachter to these people.
Show people the real Jesus- He showed me how skewed peoples vision of Jesus is. Both of these ladies obviously believed something about God but they did not have a clear picture of the real Jesus. In my day to day walk, I want to do nothing but show people the real Jesus.

Liquid Direction

I love watching a powerful river.  There is something captivating about a mighty flowing river bouncing up and down as it moves over obstacles beneath.  What is the reason for such powerful flow?

1.  Constant intake from it's source.
2. Riverbanks

A river is a perfect picture of organic organization of liquid direction.  I believe life is very similar.  I believe the church is very similar.

My life cannot flow without the source of life--Jesus.
The life that Jesus gives me needs to be channeled through the priorities he has given to me--this requires organization, prioritizing, planning, and structure.  I need to be able to say yes to what Jesus wants me yess-ing to, and no to what he wants me no-ing to, in order for my passion to flow intensely.  

The church is the same way.  Yes, the church is to be fluid and organic, but as it grows people soon realize riverbanks are needed, and higher and higher riverbanks at that.  The riverbanks are there to simply guide the fluidity--not hinder it.  I think this is where much of church leadership can go astray.  When we start building river banks for the sake of building river banks, and not building river banks to channel organic fluidity, we are ignoring what leadership and organization is for.  If you say, "we don't need river banks at all" you simply spread out into a stagnant cesspool of shallowness with no direction, conviction, or mission.

Two things I see so clearly for my own life and the church is "liquid direction".

The Gospel

Many Christians when they hear "gospel" automatically think forgiveness--and no further.  The good news is that I am forgiven--now leave it at that.  Sadly, many Christians have learned only the forgiveness part of the gospel.  These gospel presentations begin with our sinfulness and separation from God, and end with Jesus dying in our place for our penalty of sin.  Everything in this picture is completely true, but it leaves out some super-important pieces of the good news.  It would be like if I read to you the first chapter of a book, and then skipped straight to the last two pages of the book.  For example, if we leave out the fact that we now are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is reduced to keeping rules, jumping through hoops, and pretending we're really something; instead of a joyous spiritual life that connection to Jesus produces.  If I think the gospel is only about me and my sin being alleviated, then my Christianity becomes all about my private devotion to God, my inner life, my self, instead of a participation in a community committed to fulfilling the mission of God.  


Didn't Jesus come to earth to die for our sins?  Absolutely! But that's not all He came for.  In addition to coming to die for sin, Jesus came to redeem captives out of slavery into freedom (John 8:32-36), to destroy the authority of the power of darkness (Eph.1:20-23), to show us how to live (Phil. 2:1-5; 1 John 4:9-11), to reveal the Father to us (John 1:18; Rom. 5:8), and to bring us life.  When Jesus tells us about this life he says, "I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).


The life Jesus is telling us about does not just occur when we arrive in heaven after we die, but having a Spirit-empowered relationship with Jesus in the present.  In John 17:21 Jesus proclaimed through his prayer for us that we can actually share in this life now.  Jesus prays, "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."


Gerald F. Hawthorne has said,

 Not only is Jesus their Savior because of who he is and because his own complete obedience to the Father's will (cf. Heb 10:5-7), but he is the supreme example for them of what is possible in a human life because of his total dependence upon the Spirit of God.

Obviously we will continually be confessing sin; something Jesus never had to do, but He has granted to us freedom from sin and the power to overcome it's hold, and destructive power in our lives.  That is also some really good gospel news.

Some Monday Morning Humor

If you’re in need of some Monday morning humor, here’s a good read from Jon Acuff (What Christians Like) on prayer sneak attacks.

I used to be a mailman.

My wife disagrees. She doesn’t feel one summer of delivering mail qualifies me to claim “I used to be a mailman,” but she’s never enlisted in the United States Postal Service. She’s never driven a jeep with a steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. She’s never worn the badge of the red, white and blue and doesn’t understand that once you join, you are forever a letter carrier. To this day, I’m required by law to egg the UPS guy when he brings Amazon packages to our house. What can brown do for me? Brown can get egged. I’ve already said too much.

But if I were forced to rewrite the sentence, “I used to be a mailman,” I would rewrite it to say:

“I used to be a horrible mailman.”

That sentence is now accurate, because I was one of the worst mailman in the history of the postal service. My greatest fault, of the many I brought to that summer, was my speed. I was really slow at delivering mail, so much so that at the end of the day, I had to sprint and jump off of porches to try to get back to the post office with all the outgoing mail.

But my slowness wasn’t always my fault. One day, I was late because of a prayer sneak attack and that is a day firmly lodged in my memory.

I was walking up a driveway on a hot July day in Framingham, Massachusetts when I saw the homeowner watering his yard with a house. I had never met him before, (unlike that family who let me use their bathroom after I made the rookie mailman mistake of eating a steak and cheese sandwich from a vending machine at the post office. Who could have known that thing would be bad? And how awkward is it for the mailman to come in and use your bathroom?) I handed him the mail, we talked about the weather and then he laid his sweaty hand on my sweaty shoulder and started praying.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, prayer sneak attack. I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to pray too? Was he the opener and I was the closer? Should I bow my head? Were my mailman skills so horrible he felt compelled to pray? Should I close my eyes?

I was so surprised that I just stood there while this stranger prayed on me and then I walked back to the jeep and continued to be a completely mediocre mailman.

What’s the protocol in a situation like that? Could we come to some sort of bylaws or something? It’s going to happen again. And when it does, here are the three things I hope my prayer sneak attacker knows:

3 Rules of Prayer Sneak Attacks

1. Please segue.

“It sure is hot out today. Dear Jesus, watch over this mailman.” See what just happened there? No segue. No spiritual, “here it comes.” No, “get ready because I am about to bring the noise and/or the funk.” Even a simple, “Do you mind if I pray for you” would have been delightful. Let’s all commit to segues whenever possible.

2. Please consider carefully your touching policy.

I didn’t really care that the guy touched my shoulder. I mean it was there, it’s a pretty nice shoulder, flat and able to amply provide a platform for a praying hand. But sometimes when people “reach out and pray” they touch more than a shoulder. My friend’s wife was at a dinner party when a woman sneak attacked her and laid prayer hands on her pregnant belly. Your call on this one, but please know that if you unexpectedly prayer touch my friend Jesse who teaches Krav Maga, the Israeli fighting technique, he is probably going to arm bar you and possibly gouge out one of your eyes. Your left eye if I had to guess. And then I’m going to need to pray that you’ll find a really cool eye patch or a glass eye.

3. Please have met me once before.

I think prayer is a really intimate thing. To pray with someone you are essentially saying, “Hey, let’s go before the creator of the universe right now and be vulnerable to His word and love together.” That’s a lot to ask of your mailman. So let’s at least have talked about the weather once or football or something. Let’s have at least met once before and started to build a relational platform before you grab my hand and say, “Let’s jump off this cliff into the chasm of God’s love in prayer you strange, horrible mailman.”

Those are the three rules I would throw out for prayer sneak attacks, but unfortunately the Holy Spirit has this crazy habit of not playing by my rules. I’m not sure if it just doesn’t read blogs or have Stuff Christians Like on it’s RSS feed, but the Holy Spirit tends to move in mysterious ways. It might tell you, “Grab this mailman and pray for him, right now, right here.”

And then what can you do? But if it didn’t, if your prayer sneak attack is not Holy Spirit, God on high sanctioned, at least give the recipient the benefit of a segue.

Have you ever been prayer sneak attacked?

Have you ever been prompted to bust out a prayer sneak attack on someone?

On The City

This week I am heading up to Seattle for a three-day training session with "OnThe City" followed by Re-Train the rest of the week.  I am really excited about installing "On The City" http://onthecity.squarespace.com/ for our church.  It is not like facebook, although it can do everything that facebook can do, and a hundred things more.  "The City" is designed for organizing gospel community and outreach.  This will be a tool we can use as a church to connect with each other and organize more efficiently so no one slips through the cracks.  In the next few weeks you will have opportunity to join West Valley "on the city" .  See you soon!  

Keep in mind that Scott Thomas will be preaching at our church Nov.22.  Scott Thomas is the director of Acts29 and one of the pastors at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Scott has been traveling all over the world addressing the movement at large.  Scott is going to hang around afterwards if anyone wants to chat further on church planting.  These leaders of the Acts 29 network have been tremendously generous to our church.  Mars Hill Church in Seattle has been supporting us with some finances as well as coaching.  

Battle For Solitude by Patrick Cahill

Aside from the waxing moon perched in the corner of a stark and cloudless sky, my headlights were the only source of comfort as the gravel drive sucked me toward that moment of confrontation.

Solitude.

What would I find?

What will it be like to be tucked away in a cabin in the hills, alone, with God for 24 hours..?

And why did I drive out here so late at night?

An alarming shrill scurried up my back as the headlights penetrated the blackened windows and revealed the lonely stature of the last cabin on right, whose only sibling loomed just beyond the reach of what was uncovered by my own hi-beams.

I crept into the driveway slowly, peering intently past the glare on the windows into what would be my dwelling for the next 24 hours.

Alone--like this little cottage who stood empty at the end of a gravel road niched deep into the hills--my only hope was that God might dwell in me as I this cabin.

But what lurks inside..?

I immediately dismissed my fearful hesitancy as childishness and smothered it with the all the confidence I could muster from the noble nature of my mission. WIth that confidence I popped open the door and marched into the entry way, simultaneously flinging the light on. I brought in all my stuff and dropped it in the main central room. But as I shut the door behind me, my sensed heightened and a primal awareness came upon me...

I was not alone.

The hair on my neck stood up as my fight-or-flight instincts overthrew every logical explanation of my fear. Adrenaline coursed through my body and I froze.

Knees bent, I stepped tenderly into the kitchen to grab a weapon. Just as I reached over the sink, I was instantly frozen at the sight of two, tarantula sized Hobo spiders nestled in drain cover! It took several moments to realize that these spiders were mere carcasses. But this was no friendly cabin, I had been swallowed by the jaws of a Hobo Spider nesting ground!!

I proceeded out into the living room, stopping to frantically bat away the single web strand that grazed my cheek. And as I turned the corner....there is was...

The Mother of all Hobo Spiders.

The Big Boss.

Perched in the crevice of the sliding glass door.

Staring at me.

Plotting against me.

In a fraction of a second I debated leaving.

Leaving this not-so-sacred dwelling to be ruled by the evil 8-legged predators.

But my primal man-fight mechanism launched into action from deep within.

I WILL BE THE MASTER OF THIS HOUSE!!!

So in one subtle yet swift movement, I stepped back, tore a paper towel from the roll and re-approached the wooly mammoth.

"DDHAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEYYYAA

AA!!!!" I roared, with a Bruce Lee type of fury as my hand struck down, at lightening speed, squarely on the body of the hairy little bastard. I pulled it paper towel together on itself and pinch-squeezed it with every ounce of strength I possessed.

I am a killer.

I let out a huge sigh as I deposited it in the garbage and the next 20 minutes turned into a Kill Bill style killing spree, leaving SIX hobo spiders dead, along with the four dead ones I found.

Victory.

So after my SWAT Team duties were complete I sat, mourned briefly for the casualties, and then rested in peace.

"Oh God that you would dwell in me as I in this house"

Trees

I love trees.  Not like in a tree-hugger sort of way, I am just enamored at their beauty and design.  I am particularly interested in the oaks.  It takes around one hundred years for an oak tree to even start to drop acorns.  Some of the oak trees here in the valley are over 800 years old.  That's right, oak trees can live over a thousand years!  I have an oak tree inscribed on my wedding ring, and paintings and photographs throughout our house of oak trees.  Oak trees symbolize for me "a long obedience in the same direction" and the hope of the fruit that follows.

When you walk through a field here in the valley you are going to see many different oak trees.  Some are rotten, some are robust, some are littering the ground with acorns, others are losing limbs that are lying all over the ground.  People are like this.  Jesus said you can determine a healthy tree by the fruit it produces.  A bad tree produces bad fruit, and a good tree produces good fruit (Luke 6:43).

According to Psalm 1 our mind is the soil that is saturated with either nutrients or toxins.  Our mind is where the roots of our soul are embedded.

Psalm 1:1-4
"Blessed is the man, who walks not in the counsel of the wicked
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord
and on his law he meditates day and night
He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season
and it's leaf does not wither, in all that he does he prospers.
The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away."

Philippians 4:8-9 likewise says,
"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.......practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Our souls need good soil.  If the meditation of your heart is darkness then you will be dark.  If like the psalmist you long for the water of the word, truth, and beauty--you will begin to bear fruit.

Nehemiah and Missional Communities by Michael Gay

Nehemiah and Missional Communities

Nehemiah 1

As the call to gospel mission in our city and community has grown louder, more resounding and more compelling, I have been seeking for a Biblical attitude and pattern for how to approach the lost, broken and needy around me. 

In Nehemiah I found an example of the thoughts, attitudes and actions that we as believers can emulate, especially as we are sent, like Nehemiah, on mission to a broken city in desperate need of the gospel. 

What did Nehemiah think, do and say before he was sent on mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?

1.  His mind was bent towards the status and welfare of the city.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. Ne. 1:2

Nehemiah was inquiring about the well being of the city that was on his heart.  He was asking questions, looking for answers, and trying to discover the physical state of the city.  He was on a fact-finding mission to discover the heart of what issues plagued the city.

We need the same type of attitude, that of a researcher, a student, a learner, a detective bound to peel back the calloused exterior and see the beating heart of our cities.

Questions I am asking:

            What is God doing in my city?

What are the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of my city?

How would a church start to meet these needs? 

How does the gospel answer these obvious needs of the city?

What are the biggest barriers to the gospel in this city?

What does the Bible have to say about this city’s barriers to the gospel?

2.       His heart was broken for the city.

“The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Vs. 3-4

Nehemiah’s heart was broken for the trouble, shame and the broken walls of his city.  These are emotional, physical and spiritual ramifications of man’s fallen condition, the result of sin in the lives of man.  This sin and its consequences shattered Nehemiah and moved him to cry, to fast, to pray and to repent. 

Whether it is because I am insulated or my heart is hard, sin and it’s consequences in the lives and community of my city doesn’t always rend my heart.  My prayer is that the things about my city that break God’s heart would grow to break my heart, and that I would be moved to the point of tears and prayer by the state of our broken condition without Jesus. 

3.            He began to preach the gospel to himself and those around him in prayer, in context of his city’s brokenness

And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Vs. 4-7

Nehemiah begins to worship the God of the universe and declare

a)      God’s greatness, bigness, awesomeness,

b)      God’s faithfulness in the covenant of salvation

c)      God’s steadfast love

d)      The sin in the lives of Nehemiah and his people. 

This is the Gospel!  Nehemiah, even from the distance of his captivity in Persia, begins to intercede and preach the gospel to Jerusalem. 

This cycle of worship, declaration and confession in context to our city’s specific needs, sins and gospel barriers is our pattern for mission. 

4.            He caught a redemptive vision for his city

but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. vs. 9-10

Nehemiah sees what his city could be in the righteousness of God.  He sees them as “servants, redeemed by the great power of God’s strong hand.” 

This is the beginning of a great movement of God’s spirit among his people in Jerusalem.  Against great odds the city of God begins to be restored, the people of Israel come back, and the words of the Law are read again in a prophetic allusion to the coming of Jesus, the Word in flesh. 

In Nehemiah we find some first steps for how we can start to live this big thing called “mission.”