Grace Comes Down, Joy Rises Up, And Generousity Flows Out

Well the elections are over and people are wondering if our economy is going to be getting better for the next two years? People are concerned about a growing number of people on welfare and entitlement programs but the bigger question is "what about the welfare of our souls?" People may have been voting in 2010 over "It's the economy stupid!" but what about the discipleship of our sharing to the poor? Can we have generous giving during an economic down turn?

I love the words in 2 Corinthians 8:2-3 which speaks about (1) a "great trial of affliction" and an "abundance of their joy" and (2) to give "according to their ability" and even more, giving "beyond their ability." A test of discipleship is this radical generous spirit that gives with joy even in the midst of hard times and trials and doesn't just give till it hurts but gives till we are healed----healed by the joy of God's Spirit freely giving cheerfully to others in us and through us.

This Island Earth or No Man is an Island

THE WHOLE WORLD IS CHANGED WITH THE GLORY OF GOD AND I FEEL FIRE AND MUSIC UNDER MY FEET -
Thomas Merton

I have always been a big fan of the old 1950 sci-fi movies. This Island Earth which I would love to see a remake is about a scientist who by curiousity is chosen with other scientists to help aliens build technology that will save their dying world. Of course the aliens really don't care about the earth or destroying some of its inhabitants as long as they can save their own planet.


Much of the power plays, selfish-centered agendas, and the prolifuration of destroying this planet or using other people of other nations for cheap labor for financial gain to a business or personal wealth is a common story. Our propensity for isolation and rugged individualism run amok is destroying the very fabric of our social networks and relationships. Thomas Merton got it right when he said, "We are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God." This island earth is not all there is to life but God calls us to be good stewards of his good creation. No man is an island either because we all need one another.

Do you see a connection between dicipleship and community rather than just private personal disciplines? Is there a connection today of Christian discipleship and stewardship of the earth?

Transforming Discipleship

"IN THE SAME WAY THE CHURCH EXISTS FOR NOTHING ELSE BUT TO DRAW MEN INTO CHRIST, TO MAKE THEM LITTLE CHRISTS. IF THEY ARE NOT DOING THAT, ALL THE CATHEDRALS, CLERGY, MISSIONS, SERMONS, EVEN THE BIBLE ITSELF, ARE SIMPLY A WASTE OF TIME" - C. S. LEWIS

I have two daughters in college. Did I tell you I have two daughters in college? My oldest daughter told me she wants to find a Bible Study that will teach her about discipleship and how to live that out before her peers. She also said she was frustrated that when it comes to the church or ministries of the church, nobody has really mentored her or given her accountability in her walk with God. As I think more about the issues of discipleship, my daughter is so right on two missing ingredients today which are mentors and accountability when it comes to the great ommission of discipleship.

2 Corinthians 3: 12 says, "Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech" and goes onto say in v.14 "but their minds were blinded" or v. 15, "a veil lies on their heart.". Paul's argument is the blindness and veil Israel has regarding Christ. But I can't help but think that when it comes to the church today, the church is blinded and has a veil over its eyes when it comes to this important issue of transforming discipleship. Listen to Paul's last words in this chapter, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as the Spirit of the Lord (v.18).

Where are the little Christ's today? Where are the unveiled Christians who are being transformed by the glory of Christ into his image?

Three areas God is challenging me in this area of discipleship:
1. We must disciple our children first.
2. Learn discipleship in community or small group (live it out).
3. Mentor and hold others accountable (disciples reproducing and making other disciples).

Prayer partners, groups of three or more people asking accountability questions, and raising the hard issues concerning the church and faith today; etc.

How is your life being tranformed this week by Christ?

To Save A Life

I saw the movie "To Save a Life" and really liked how they dealt with some difficult teen issues. Even more thought provoking was the real way they presented the good and the bad of the church. Some people are living for God while others are just playing games and play acting when it comes to Christian faith. This brings me back to the great ommission again in the church and that is discipleship. I just celebrated 25 years of marriage as well of 25 years of being a minister. Where are the true disciples of Jesus in today's church? Most of us, if we are honest, would have to say that nobody mentored or discipled us and so it's business as usual for the church as the church continues on a downward spiral along with society. Does the church need saving? Who will save the church? What is God calling you to do to save a life?

One Nation Under God?

I went to Canada last week and I will have to say I am always elated when I cross the border back into America. I found Ontario's Canadians quite pleasant and nice despite some criticisms I heard from others about Canadians. Hey, Canada even loves Elvis (since I was at Collingwood which I did not know hosts the largest Elvis festival probably in the world).

I have been reading Greg's Boyd's provocative book "The Myth of a Christian Nation." The heart of his book is covered in chapters 5 & 6 in 'Taking America Back For God" and "The Myth of a Christian Nation."

Here are a few excerpts from his book:

1. The thinking is that America was founded as a Christian nation but has simply veered off track. If we can just get more Christians in office, pass more Christian laws, support more Christian policies, we can restore this nation to its 'one nation under God" status (p.91).

2. If Jesus wasn't concerned about "taking Israel back for God" by political means, why do we aspire to "take America back for God" by these means? (p.92).

3. Most of our founding fathers were deistic than Christian nor did they have any intention of founding an explicitely Christian nation. It is significant that the Declaration of Independence proclaims truths that the founding fathers thought to be 'self-evident' to natural reason (a very deistic idea), not on truths that are scriptural. Also, our country's Constitution is based on reason, not the Bible (p.100-101).

4. When we try to 'take America back for God' by political means, we end up trying to gain power over others rather than trying to serve others (102).

5. As a result, global missions have been tremendously harmed by American nationalism . . . We have allowed our allegiance to the kingdom of God to be compromised by our allegiance to our nation. We have far too often placed our worldly citizenship before our heavenly citizenship (Phil.3:20) [p.111].

Has nationalism in America become idolatrous? Have Christians in America mixed their Christian faith with politics too much? And does worldly politics compromise biblical discipleship?

Will Israel, the Jews, and the Christian Church Come Together in the Last Days?

"GOD DID NOT SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD AS A JEWISH RABBI TO ESTABLISH A LOVELY NEW GENTILE RELIGION CALLED CHRISTIANITY" - Michael L. Brown

I am off for some Sabbath time (family vacation). This last weekend, I worshipped at a Messianic congregation where Jews and Gentiles worshipped Yahweh side by side. Whether we call the Messiah Jesus or Yeshua, God is reconciling the whole world and fullfilling the new man in Christ in Ephesians chapter one as many tribes make One Church.

Over a dacade ago, I had an encounter that changed my life. I was at a Christian conference on racial reconciliation and I found myself (a white, blond, blue-eyed German) locked in an embrace of love and forgiveness with a Hasidic Christian Jew. How I now read the Bible and my heart for Israel has been changed forever more.

Gentiles are finally repenting of centuries of anti-semitism and starting to rediscover their Jewish roots of the Christian faith. A love for Jewish people is being sovereignly poured into the hearts of the Gentile church. We are actually beginning to witness the fullfillment of the Scriptures that says,

"Ten men from all languages and nations will take hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe" and say "Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23).

Killing Ants with a Baseball Bat

"IT'S A COMEDIAN'S JOB TO SAY WHAT EVERYONE
ELSE IS THINKING BUT IS AFRAID TO SAY"
- Thor Ramsey

Satire bites, cuts, and can convict and even wound. I remember several years ago I wrote a witty piece of called "Forrest Gump Meets Jesus." The satire and irony was the Christian wisdom of Forest Gump in contrast to the intellectual brilliance of not only athiests but even conventional church wisdom. But often satire can fall on deaf ears. It seems like satire can please no one. Some people said I was too hard on atheists in the piece. Others said I was too easy on them. What is often missed in satire is like the punch line-----sometimes people miss it or simply don't get it (especially if they don't laugh or understand how irony and satire are a part of humor that can shred idols and challenge precious preconceived ideas).

Douglas Wilson in his A Serrated Edge speaks about the problem of how Christians try to imitate one part of Jesus lifestyle or words but refuse to imitate another part of it. Here is what he says,

"Why do we say, 'Imitate Christ in his kindness to the tax gatherers, but never imitate Him in His treatment of the religous pompous?' Why not the reverse? 'Always make fun of religous wowsers, but never imitate Christ's kindness to the downtrodden" (p. 91).

He goes on, "Many who object to satire as a godly weapon of war have this prejudice against it because they grew up in a home where sarcasm was consistently used as an ungodly bludgeoning tool. The Bible is our standard, and not our personal histories (pp.94-95).

Satire is a weapon to be employed in the warfare of God's kingdom, not an opportunity for personal venting. It is also good to take counsel from others and only employ when deemed neccesary. "If this is not remembered, the satirist will find himself killing ants with a baseball bat" (p.105).

Let Us Pray . . .

Here is a prayer by Gemma Galgani given around a hundred and twenty years ago:

In my prayer, dear Jesus, I am with you wholly.
If I meditate on the cross, I suffer with you.
If I meditate on the resurrection, I rise with you.
So daily I die and rise.

If I walk with you along the hot dusty roads,
I become hot, sweaty, tired, as you surely did.
If I hear you preach, my ears tingle with excitement,
And my heart is pierced by the sharpness of your words.
If I watch you heal people, I can feel your touch,
So my own body trembles at your power.

Let me walk with you during every minute of my life,
Let me constantly be inspired by your words,
Let me daily be renewed by your power,
That I may die to sin and rise to perfect righteousness.

A Difficult Simplicity

YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID THAT "GOD LOVES YOU AND HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE." BUT I SAY TO YOU, "GOD LOVES YOU AND HAS A DIFFICULT PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE" -Listening to Jesus through Erwin McManus

Listen to Jesus in Greg Boyd words, "Our central job is not to solve the world's problems. Our job is to draw our entire life from Christ and manifest that life to others. Many Evangelicals spend more time fighting against certain sinners in the political arena than they do sacrificing for those sinners. Our unique calling is simply to replicate Christ's sacrificial love in service to the world . . . We need to learn how to walk in freedom from violence, self-centeredness, materialism, nationalism, racism, and al lother false ways of getting life (pp.64-69, Myth of a Christian nation).

Do you think it's the church's job to make the world turn out right?

Do I Look Like Your Lawyer?

IF DEFENDING YOU MEANS PUTTING UP WITH YOUR TANTRUMS AND ACCUSATIONS AND BAD MANNERS AND JUVENILE LOGIC, YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND YOURSELF A LAWYER WHO CAN SWALLOW IT---NOT ME" - Perry Mason

"FRIEND," JESUS SAID, "WHO SET ME TO BE A
JUDGE OR ARBITRATOR OVER YOU?" (Luke 12:14)

I talked to a judge today and heard another man say he might need a lawyer. Do you ever find yourself being a lawyer, an arbitrator between two disputing people? How is it that so much greed and self-interests take over in the name of "fairness" and "justice" these days? Why is it that people think they have "rights" over other people's rights and that some times it's better to let a matter go than to fight and make matters worse.

Jesus did not come to be this man's legal counselor or his brother's ethical advisor but his mission was to stay focused on God's kingdom. But Jesus always has a way of getting around our concerns to the heart of the matter and the so Jesus addressed the matter of the heart. He said, "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possesions (Luke 12:15). It matters little if we improve the legal system if in the end, we do not change people minds and hearts that life does not consist in the abundance of their possesions.

Does not First Corinthians chapter six also tell us not to sue our brothers and sisters in Christ? Why do we feel compelled to do it anyway despite what Scripture says? Can we allow ourselves to be cheated at times or take the loss? (v.7). How we handle conflict and before others makes a difference in how people in the world perceive us.

What does it mean to advance God's kingdom today in a world that only wants to advance getting ahead of every one else?

Cross-Shaped Glasses

"THE CHURCH WHOSE THEOLOGY IS SHAPED BY THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS MUST ITSELF
TAKE ON A CRUCIFORMED LIFE IF ITS
THEOLOGY IS TO CARRY CREDIBILITY"
- Charles Cousar

Is it safe to say that the church in America today needs a new way of seeing? The cross I believe provides the lens which sharpens and clarifies how God wants us to look at the world and relate to it. Leonard Allen in his The Cruciform Church (ACU Press, 1990) portrays the cross as a lens in which the church is to be cross-shaped or a cruciform community.

Here are three ways that Allen gives in showing us what the cross does:

1. Through the cross we see the heart of God revealed most clearly.

2. Only through the cross can we see the true nature of human sin and the depths of divine grace.

3. The cross provides the model for God's new social order, the messianic community.

"The cross exposes our God-substitutes, our self-serving religiousity, and breaks the illusion that we are masters of our own lives. It challenges the complacency of churches that dare to call themselves by the name of the Crucified One" (p.133).

"The cross thus puts our churches to the test. It exposes our smug elitism, our affluent isolation . . . It shames us for our church fights, for our readiness to call it quits with our sisters and brothers. And when we lazily embrace the spirit of the age, becoming little more than 'Christ clubs,' the cross reawakens us to our first calling (emphasis mine, p.139).

The Crux of the Matter

"THE CROSS PUTS EVERYTHING TO THE TEST"
- Martin Luther

The cross of Christ is the ultimate symbol of God's kingdom. Christians are not just in the world but not of it but also for it. The crux of the matter is the condition of our hearts and Jesus wants to transform our hearts to transform the world around us. So at the end of the day, the question is not how much did I love but are we loving as Jesus loved? Everything we do is to be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).

As I have been reading Greg Boyd's wonderful book The Myth of a Christian Nation, he provocatively shows the contrast that exists between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. Here is a quote:

"The kingdom of the world trusts the power of the sword, while the kingdom of God trusts the power of the cross. The kingdom of the world advances by exercising 'power over', while the kingdom of God advances by exercising 'power under' . . . The kingdom of the world seeks to control behavior, while the kingdom of God seeks to transform lives from the inside out. Also, the kingdom of the world is rooted in preserving, if not advancing, one's self interests and one's own will, while the kingdom of God is centered on exclusively on carrying out God's will, even if this requires sacrificing one's own interests" (p.47).

The Lost Art of Shadowing

WHO KNOWS WHAT LURKS IN THE HEART OF MEN,
THE SHADOW KNOWS - Old Radio Program

My Two brothers and Dad used to listen to the old radio show The Shadow. It was filled with adventure, suspence, and mystrey. I realize that so much of what it means to follow Jesus today has lost both its beauty and mystrey. All of us are called to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1). The word imitate means "mimic" or "shadow." We are exactly to do what we see another doing. As Christ followers, then, we are to mimic Jesus.

One of the unusual and even mysterious gifts from God is a friend who came out from prison and shadowed me for seven months. It was one of the most fruitful and wonderful experiences I have ever had in Christian ministry. We both took so much from it all. Next week, I will have another man shadow me for a week. May all of us aspire to think, feel, and act like Christ as iron sharpens iron in serving as Jesus told us to serve, two by two.

Praying the Scripture

I tell people all the time that a powerful way to pray is to pray the Scripture. Personalize the Psalms or one of Paul's prayers or a series of verses in the Bible and pray God's Word over situations and others.

Here is a prayer about God's Word from Chuck Smith in his Epiphany:


We ask you, Father,

To give us eyes to see and ears to hear

Every time we open the Bible.

Lead us to the truths you want us to learn,

The deeds you want to perform,

The life you want us to live.

Enlighten us, encourage us, correct us, and train us

According to the Scriptures.

Keep us in your Word, and lock your Word in our hearts,

So that our minds are illumined by it,

Our hearts are transformed by it,

Our spirits are renewed by it,

And our behavior is shaped by it.

May the mercy of God our Father,

The truth of Jesus Christ His Son,

And the love of the Holy Spirit,

Be made real in our lives through Your eternal Word;

Both now and forever more.

Amen

(pp.165-166).

God in a Box?

"GOD WILL OFFEND YOUR MIND TO
REVEAL YOUR HEART" - Mike Bickle

Do you ever find yourself at odds with what Scripture teaches? Do you find yourself at times questioning why God did something in the Bible or how can God do this to me today? Has God ever asked you to do something that did not make any sense? So much of Christianity today has God in a rational box. God must fit into our understanding if God is to be God. But when we put God in a box, God is not limited, we have only limited ourselves. We have put ourselves in a box when we think somehow we have captured or tamed the untamable God of the Bible.

God does things that goes beyond our imagination and can not be captured by our logical deductions. Most of my young adult life I battled with low self-esteem and fighting off negative thoughts that wanted to rob me of any effective use for God. One time I remember I was doing something really stupid and I heard God get my attention by calling me "stupid." I thought later that God does not call people stupid. It's been strange that I have heard several people tell me similar stories. Even though my whole life God has been calling me "His Beloved," there was at least one time I sensed God calling me stupid because I was acting very stupid at that time.

Another time God put on my heart to do something that I thought was embarassing. I felt kind of stupid or sheepishly humiliated for doing it. I could not wrap my brain around what God was trying to teach me and again I heard the Lord speak to my heart and say, "I am teaching you humility an obedience."

What is it that God has been showing you lately?

What are ways we try to put God in a box?

A Meditation

God invites us to the great adventure. Listen to the words by A. W. Tozer,

A Real Christian is odd in a number of ways.
He empties himself in order that he might be full,
admits he is wrong so he can be declared right,
goes down in order to go up.

He is strongest when he is weakest.
He dies so he can live,
forsakes in order to have,
gives away so he can keep,
sees the invisible,
hears the inaudible,
and knows that which passeth knowledge.

The River of God

"JUMPING INTO THE RIVER OF GOD MEANS LETTING
GO OF CONTROL. IT INVOLVES RISK" - Melinda Fish

I love what Henri Nouwen says in his Road To Daybreak when he speaks of what it means to jump into the river of God. Here is what he says:

"It seems as if God stands on the other side of the river and calls me to jump in and swim. But I am afraid; I think I will drown. I think I am not prepared to let go of all the good things on my side of the river. But I also want to be where he is; I sense the freedom, joy, and peace of the other side. There is a clarity I lack, an utter simplicity, a total commitment, and a vision which all come from God, as a gift.

There is a voice in me that says, "You don't want to become a fanatic, a sectarian, a Jesus freak, a narrow-minded enthusiast . . . I want to remain open to the many ways of being, explore many options, be informed about many things . . . " But I know this is not the voice I should trust. It is the voice that keeps me from making a full commitment to Jesus and from truly seeing the way God wants me to be in the world" (p.71).

Have you jumped into the river lately?

The Revolutionary Kingdom

GROWTH TAKES PLACE AT THE EDGE OF RISK

I have been reading through Greg's Boyd's facinating book The Myth of a Christian Nation (Zondervan, 2005). Dr. Boyd says the heart of Jesus's teachings is the Kingdom of God. Here are some excerpts from his book:

"God is not primarily about getting people to pray a magical 'sinner's prayer' or to confess certain magical truths as a means of escaping hell. He's not about gathering together a group who happen to believe all the right things. Rather, He's about gathering together a group of people who embody God's kingdom----who individually and corporately manifest the reality of the reign of God on the earth. And he's about growing this new kingdom through his body to take over the world. The vision of what God is about lies at the heart of Jesus ministry, and it couldn't contrast with the kingdom of the world more sharply" (p.30).

This is a revlutionary kingdom that begins as a mustard seed and continues to grow and grow. This kingdom power does not look like Rambo or the Terminator but looks a lot like Calvary. Boyd continues,

"The kingdom of this world is concerned with preserving law and order by force; the kingdom of Godis concerned with establishing the rule of God through love. The kingdom of this world is centrally concerned with what people do; the kingdom of God is centrally concerned with how people are and what they can become. The kingdom of the world is characterized by judgment; the kingdom of God is characterized by outrageous, even scandalous, grace" (p.32).

In the end, whose kingdom are you living in and breathing in? Whose kingdom power are you living by? Or to say it another way, whose will governs your life, God's will or your own will?

The Road to Prayer

"WE NEED A LOT OF HUMILIATION
FOR A LITTLE BIT OF HUMILITY"
- Henri Nouwen


"Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you;
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done to me,
and in all your creatures.

I wish no more than this,
O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love
of my heart,
for I love you, Lord.
and so need to give myself into your hands,
without reserve
and with boundless confidence.
For you are my Father."

[Henri Nouwen THE ROAD TO DAYBREAK, P.121]


This father's Day weekend, I can only live this prayer by God's help through His Holy Spirit. I especially think of a Mother I talked with today who lost her son. These words have even more meaning in the light of painful endurance as we surrender our lives to God each and every day.

Roswell

I watched the first season of Roswell which is about teens with alien powers that know this is not their home and their home is somewhere beyond the heavens. Are not Jesus followers supposed to be resident aliens where this earthly place is not our home but our home is in heaven?

In the last week, I've had three people tell me they pray and ask for the Holy Spirit every day which comes from Jesus' teaching about the Good Father (Luke 11:11-13). God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who keep asking Him. I started praying this prayer today as another discipleship experiment. Where this leads, only God knows.

So I have been studying Luke chapter eleven which starts with the Lord's prayer. Then Jesus gives several teachings on prayer going from the parables about prayer like the persistent friend and the good father and then we read about Christ healing a demonized person and Christ's power is stronger than Satan's power.

Can it be that as we pray and ask for the Holy Spirit that God is empowering, leading, and giving us spiritual power for the day?

Is there "more" to the Christian life or even to our prayer life?

"Bushwacked!"

"THE HORSE IS PREPARED FOR THE DAY OF BATTLE,
BUT DELIVERANCE IS OF THE LORD"
(Proverbs 21:31, NKJV)

As I reflect on this past week happenings, I am utterly amazed in all that God is doing around me. This is a time of preparation spiritually and for churches to be ready for God's harvest no matter how or what it looks like. Can God be bringing about every kind of deliverance from emotional pain, physical problems, social chaos, and even national healing and spiritual deliverance?

If Ephesians chapter six calls Christians at the end of one verse and the beginning of another verse "to stand," we better pay attention (vv.13-14). Ephesians chapter one has a powerful prayer for spiritual discernment and heavenly wisdom. Praying God's Word is a potent weapon against an adversary who tries to continually bushwack us.

Last Wednesday, I had a whole series of crises phone calls. One of our family's 23 year old son was taken to the emergency room and they did not know what was wrong with him? One of our senior ladies had a lid on a ice machine come down and hit her head and sent her to the hospital. The woman who picked up the injured senior lady hit a deer on the way home and that was not even half of what happened that night within a few short hours. Do we see all these things as a kind of "weird coincidences" or do we see something spiritually going on behind the scenes?

Well, there were happy moments this week like my identical twin brother's son's wedding and a family get together this past weekend. I also got to talk to a Bible College student about the spiritual life in regards to the book of Acts and another young brilliant Catholic man who was the Groom's best man where we had a wonderful discussion about the early church fathers and the spiritual life seen from the monastic tradition.

When I returned home, there was also waiting for me a funeral of this 23 year old son who died of staff infection. As I spoke and listened to this grieving family, the Mother said she needed some kind of revelation or sign from God that her son was okay so we prayed for her. The Grandfather told me among many things that God gave him a definition of S-I-N----Satan's Insidious Nature. He told me he looked up 'insidious' in the dictionary since he did not know what it meant and it said "Bushwacked."

My Internet service on the day of the funeral would not work so I called Comcast. The woman asked me if I was a Pastor and she told me she could not believe her first phone call was from a Pastor in Indiana because she was just praying for a sign from God in Louisianna. She also gave me a scripture about Abraham giving up his son and that God will provide and if that meant anything to me? (I was just about to leave and do the funeral for this family who just lost their son).

I saw God's presence moving among these twenty-something generation as they formed their own community of standing together in their grief. I also got a phone call to go to the hospital and minister to an 18 year old man who had begun doing drugs and was having some bad reactions to it all. He surrended his life and bad habits to God and asked if several of us would walk beside him in this life of faith in Jesus he was now holding onto like a life boat.

And so driving back from the hospital, I sensed God leading me to look up Proverbs 21:31. I called two friends of mine. The first one I left a message and the Scripture. The second one told me they just had a loss in the family and asked me to pray for them. After I prayed, he told me about a dream he had the night before of Jesus standing in a stable grooming his horse. He asked me if that meant anything to me?

Today my other friend called me back and asked me "How did I know?" I said, "Know what?" He said that exactly the time I called and left that scripture was the exact time he was right in the middle of a battle in a church board meeting. He said thanks for the prayers and encouragement and I thought "How cool is that?"

Has Satan tried to Bushwack you lately?

What Is Jesus Doing?

PRINCIPLES ARE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE
INSTEAD OF GOD
- Frederick Buechner

People may where WWJD bracelets but their habits and ethics seemed unchanged. Trying to live "What Would Jesus Do?" in the moment or in the crises of decision does not lead people to make the same kind of decisions and lifestyle choices Jesus did. Jesus lived his whole life solely for God immersed in spiritual disciplines. Unless followers of Jesus choose to do something similiar, people will not only find it difficult but impossible to live for God on the fly. It just doesn't work that way!

Anything that puts discipleship on cruise control is not biblical discipleship. So maybe the next time you are contemplating what is God's will for my life, look around, see where God is at work and join Him. You may be surprised by what God is doing.

Is God an Alien?

IT WOULD SEEM STRANGE THAT CHRISTIANITY
SHOULD HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD JUST TO
RECEIVE AN EXPLANATION - Soren Kierkegaard

Scientific-oriented people cannot believe there is a God so they like to think that maybe there is a higher intelligence of life that originates from aliens. People cannot see God and therefore they do not believe in God but they can believe in aliens even though they have never seen one. Is God an alien? Maybe we are the ones who have demonized God's creation and it is we who are the alien invaders?

I sometimes think we need a new book called God is from Mars and Humans are from Venus. We want to figure God out with our heads while God wants us to experience Him in our hearts. The problem for many of us is we want to figure God out before we risk putting our faith in Him. We want to analyize and understand "the Holy Other', never mind that our minds are fallen and more unholy than holy.

Life has moments of ease and difficulty and we decide what purpose we will work and even suffer for in the end. Meaning comes from God, not centered in our certainty but in God's faithfulness as we choose to risk everything on Him.

What is it that gives your life meaning and purpose?

Mystical Tradition

A MAN WITH AN EXPERIENCE IS NEVER AT THE MERCY
OF A MAN WITH AN ARGUMENT - Leonard Ravenhill

I love Eastern Orthodoxy for several reasons but I especially love their emphasis on the church being 'a way of life' and all theology is to be 'incarnational' in which the church embodies the presence of God on earth. What would happen if more Christians lived out the Divine Liturgy and prayed 'the divine hours' throughout each day? What would happen if 'Lectio Divina" (an ancient way of praying the Scriptures) formed our thoughts and habits?

Is it possible that a sacramental realism permeated God's people like those who tried to reform the church through monasticism centuries ago whereas we can't help but see and sense God's presence no matter where we are at or what we are doing?

At the end of the day, it seems like more and more people want to meet 'divinized' people who have been in the presence of Jesus rather than simply hearing intellectual and rationalistic arguments.

What about you? Would you rather hear good arguments for the Christian worldview or talk to someone whose life story is shaped by an encounter with God?

The Empire Strikes Back

"A SIGNIFICANT SEGMENT OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM
IS GUILTY OF NATIONALISTIC AND POLITICAL IDOLATRY"
- Greg Boyd

Dark Vader is a force to be reckoned with in the Star Wars episodes. He practices the old magic which kills, destroys, and ruins others. The dark empire strikes back and it strikes with a vengeance. Christians are aware that they were made for another world but too often unwittingly confuse the powers of the State or allegiance to their country with the kingdom of God.

Greg Boyd is in his provocative book The Myth of A Christian Nation shares his concerns of the dangers of too closely associating the Christian faith with a political perspective. The vision of God's kingdom gets clouded by national and political agendas. How many times have we heard things like "Let's take America Back" or "winning the culture war" or "America is a Christian nation?"

When this happens, rather than living a counter-cultural or radically alternative way of life, we adopt the values of the surrounding culture around us. Although Boyd's book is more focused on the abuses of the religious right, his critique also applies to the religious left as well. God's kingdom is straightforward and uncompromising while the kingdoms of this world are always complex, ambigous, and full of compromises.

How does the principalities and fallen powers of this world influence the church? Is the quest for political power destroying the church?

A Prayer

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1, NIV)


I FEAR YOUR JUDGMENT, LORD.
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT AT THE END OF TIME ALL THE FACES OF BROTHERS,
AND ESPECIALLY THOSE OF MY TOWN, MY NEIGHBORHOOD, MY
WORK, WILL BE LINED UP BEFORE ME,
AND IN YOUR MERCILESS LIGHT I SHALL RECOGNIZE IN THESE FACES
THE LINES THAT I HAVE CUT
THE MOUTHS THAT I HAVE TWISTED,
THE EYES THAT I HAVE DARKENED,
AND THOSE WHOSE LIGHT I HAVE EXTINGUISHED.
THEY WILL COME, THOSE THAT I HAVE KNOWN AND THOSE THAT I HAVE
NOT KNOWN, THOSE OF MY TIME AND ALL THOSE THAT HAVE
FOLLOWED, FASHIONED BY THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD.

AND I SHALL STAND STILL, TERRIFIED, SILENT.
IT IS THEN, O LORD, THAT YOU WILL SAY TO ME . . .

. . . 'IT WAS I' . . .

LORD, FORGIVE ME FOR THAT FACE WHICH HAS COMDEMNED ME,
LORD, THANK YOU FOR THAT FACE WHICH HAS AWAKENED ME.


[Poem "That face, Lord, Haunts Me" excerpt by Michael Quoist Prayers]

Holy Hilarity

LIFE IS A TEST AND MONEY
IS ONE OF THOSE TESTS

"And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury" (Mark 12:41). Jesus often spoke of money and draws our attention to look at our ways of giving. Do we do it cheerfully or begrudgingly? Does money call the shots in our life on what we can afford to buy or not buy and are we really free from the love of money?

If Christ has made us free, he has freed us from the power of money over our lives. Christ's continual presence with his community guides us through the unpredicatable ways of the Holy Spirit (see John 3:8). The Christian life is not some new rigid legal code. Rather, it is the church's response to the Apostles teachings and the Spirit's leading. We squirm when reading "No one claimed that any of his possesions were his own, but they shared everything they had . . . There was no needy person among them" (Acts 4:32, 34a). The resurrection reality and Spirit's guiding power allowed the early church to have a holy, almost reckless spontaneity. Are we today as secure in God's care to provide and the Spirit's ability to lead?

The Spirit blows where it wishes and we are free to respond to needs as the Spirit leads. So as I reflect on this issue of holy hilarity in our giving, here are some thoughts I jotted down in preparation for our discipleship study on God's economy:

1. Soak yourself in the Bible's sometimes soothing, but also unsettling words about trust.

2. We need to make the issue of our finances a matter of regular prayer. Do we pray for greater trust and open-handed generosity?

3. We need to a good conversation and to listen to the community of other believers. Money and finances are not just a private matter but communal and best done within a community context.

4. Freedom in Christ and freedom in our giving means sacrificial giving, even when our finances seem tight. Giving releases the grip money has on our lives and even breaks the poverty mentality ("I never have enough").

When we do these things, we discover freedom worth far more than any amount of money we might have saved in our withholding. God has been dealing with me about Sabbath----spiritual times of rest and focus as well as discipline. Has God given you a vision of liberation in Christ from Mammon's bondage? How are you doing?

How has the Holy Spirit led you into a moment of hilarious giving or spontaneous generosity?

Quotes for the Journey

"REMEMBER, THAT THERE IS MEANING BEYOND ABSURDITY. KNOW THAT EVERY DEED COUNTS, THAT EVERY WORD IS POWER . . . ABOVE ALL, REMEMBER THAT YOU MUST BUILD YOUR LIFE AS IF IT WERE A WORK OF ART" - Abraham Heschel

"Faith is a blush in the presence of God"

"We must beware lest we violate the holy,
lest our dogmas overthink mystrey,
lest our psalms sing it away."

"Man's sin is in his failure to live what he is."

"Religion is not 'what man does with his solitariness.'
Religion is what man does with the presence of God."

"Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth.; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else. Six days a week we seek to dominate the world, on the seventh day we try to dominate the self."


(excerpts from Abraham Heschel I Asked For Wonder (Crossroad, 2001).

A Parable of the Church

A man who wanted to buy a farm was looking it over.
He found the cows divided into little groups.

"Tell me why you have divided the cows like this," said the man.

"Well," said the farmer, "these cows here are all white."

"Yes, I see that, but those are also white."

"Those have shorter legs."

"But the cows over there are white and have short legs, too. Why are they separate?"

"Oh, they have longer horns."

"Well! When I buy this farm, I will divide the cows into just two groups:

"those who give milk and those who don't."



[Ortiz, Cry of the Human Heart, p.33]

Whose Afraid of the Holy Spirit?

"IF WE LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, LET US
ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT"

- Galatians 5:26


What does it mean to live in the Spirit? To live in the Spirit is to be continually conscious of the presence of Christ in you. Many books have been written about walking in the Spirit. Some of them are very good. But most of these books deal with all of the things we need to unlearn, not what we need to learn in order to live in the Spirit. They are directed at Christians who are in error.

Does a new convert need to read a bunch of books in order to live a life in the Spirit? If so, then life in the Spirit becomes something difficult because only certain kind of people can read all of these books . . . Jesus said that in order to understand life in the Kingdom of God, we have to forget how intelligent we are and become like little children. I believe that there are many things concerning the gospel that we don't understand----not because they are difficult, but because they don't appeal to us.

We need to have the eyes of our hearts open to see that because Christ is in us, we have all that is needful for walking in the Spirit . . . To walk in the Spirit is to be continually conscious of His presence!

[excerpts from Juan Carlos Ortiz Living With Jesus Today, pp.58-63]

"WE THINK WE ARE THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE.
WE ARE WRONG. GOD IS THE CENTER. WE MUST
CHANGE OUR CENTER OF GRAVITY. HE IS THE SUN,
AND WE REVOLVE AROUND HIM"
- Juan Carlos Ortiz



One of the simplist introductions to being a disciple of Jesus was presented in a little book by Juan Carlos Ortiz called Disciple (Creation House, 1975). He speaks about spiritual formation before anybody else does and he gives powerfull little illustrations and examples like Christians should exemplify mash potato love, where the Holy Spirit melts us all together in God's love.

Ortiz taught me many years ago that there are only two kinds of Christians or churches. Those who love one another and those who don't. Discipleship is not so much about talk but about God's power and way of life. God calls us children to grow up and become spiritual fathers but too many of us live like Christian infants our entire adult life. We need less talk and speeches and more fathers having children.

If being a disciple of Jesus means making more disciples (creating a duplicate), how are you doing in this area?

The Not-So-Family Friendly Bible

"THE BIBLE IS MORE THAN JUST A
PLACE TO STASH YOUR DRUGS"

- Thor Ramsey


The Bible is not as family friendly as we have all been allowed to believe. I remember as a younger Christian being offended by discovering that our Bible versions were sanitized. You know, "The SV Bible (sanitized version). It's where biblical scholars have tried to tone down, tame, and not make as offensive some of the more crude and course language of the Bible. Whether it be the prophet Ezekiel railing against Israel with sexually explicit statements or the Apostle Paul calling everything proverbial crap (you can fill in the blanks here) compared to knowing Christ, things are not as near as neat, clean, and tidy in the Scriptures as some people would like them to be.

Or people don't like to talk about the texts of terror, messy parts of the Bible, nor does the Bible really care about making various biblical heroes always look good. Nor is the Bible or even Jesus afraid of you "not getting it." The Bible tells us the truth so matter of factly at times that the truth is neither flatterning nor does it always "feel good" to hear it stated so bluntly.

Some have even said that the Bible is a dangerous book. Maybe people who live out this dangerous gospel are the only ones who really know what this book 'really' says?

Is Jesus a Polygamist?

"THE KINGDOM IS TO BE IN THE MIDST OF YOUR ENEMIES. AND HE WHO WILL NOT SUFFER THIS DOES NOT WANT TO BE OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST; HE WANTS TO BE AMONG FRIENDS, TO SIT AMONG THE ROSES AND LILIES, NOT WITH THE BAD PEOPLE BUT THE DEVOUT PEOPLE. O YOU BLASPHEMERS AND BETRAYERS OF CHRIST! IF CHRIST HAD DONE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, WHO WOULD EVER HAD BEEN SPARED?"
- Martin Luther


Jesus has only one wife, His bride the Church. He is not a polygamist. But if you talk to many people across denominations, they will tell you Jesus has many brides and many churches. They would never dream of calling Jesus a polygamist but that is essentially what they are doing in their misunderstanding of the unity and oneness of God's people.

Steven Harmon wrote a wonderful little book called Ecumenism Means You, Too (Cascade books, 2010). Harmon lists ten things you can do for the unity of the church. Here they are briefly:

1. First, pray for the unity of the church.
2. Second, pray for the unity of the church in the company of other Christians with whom you
have serious disagreements.
3. Third, commit yourself to a particular church, warts and all.
4. Fourth, embrace a particular denominational (and I will add, non-denominational) tradition.
5. Fifth, learn all you can about the "Great Tradition" to which all denominational tradition are
heirs.
6. Sixth, learn all you can about other denominational traditions.
7. Seventh, while remaining committed to your own denominational tradition, adopt another
tradition as a second tradition, much as you would learn a second language.
8. Eighth, join other Christians in sharing good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed.
9. Ninth, join other Christians in serving as advocates for social justice and environmental
responsiblity.
10. Tenth, search the Scriptures---devotionally, in the context of corporate worship, and with
study groups in your own congregation, but also with Christians from other traditions.

Harmon among other ecumenical Christian voices is calling Christians to go farther and deeper in biblical and practical unity.

If the church is like a flower, what would happen if there was some intentional cross-pollenation?

What is the Gospel?

REPENTANCE IS A
COMMANDMENT,
NOT AN INVITATION

The gospel of the kingdom is a Christ-centered gospel. Somehow this is lost in all the appeals we hear to Jesus as My healer, My savior, and Jesus appeals to My interests. So the gospel has become today Me centered and for My benefit. If you want to read about the gospel of the kingdom of God, go back and read the verses that are not underlined in many Bibles. Take a long look at the 'hard sayings' and tough discipleship teachings of Jesus.

Lee Camp in his book Mere Discipleship speaks about the 'good news' of the gospel. God has come to reconcile all things to himself and as we enter into that heavenly kingdom on earth, we too become reconcilers, peace-makers, obedient servants who even love our enemies. And a central word throughout the whole Bible is the word repent. "Repentance means change, and without change, without deep, thorough going change, one could not enter and participate in the kingdom . . . The Gospel invites us to follow the way of Jesus, who embodies for us the way of the kingdom" (pp.72 & 74).

How do you define the gospel?

Soul Revolution

DO SOMETHING SO BIG,
THAT UNLESS GOD IS IN
IT, IT WILL FAIL

- Frank Tillapaugh


Our world in changing so fast and many people are struggling to keep up. There are many revolutions going on from the technology revolution and micro chips to the food revolution and better and proper eating habits for a more fit body and life.

One of my friends asked me to listen to him and listen I did for the last two hours. He believes God is prompting him to start a soul revolution. I listened intently as this young minister poured out his heart and vision for what He believes God is calling the churches in our area to reach out to the community abroad.

Every day is a new day and as I look around, as people inside and outside the church are trying to fill their lives with so much 'stuff,' here is a kairos moment, a decisive time to work together as followers of Jesus and share the good news to spiritually hungry people.

I have talked about extreme faith make-over but most of us truly hunger for a God-sized vision and to see a real movement of God among the nations, and not just window dressing for bigger and flashier church buildings.

Here are some questions to ask ourselves which come from Michael Brown's Revolution in the Church (p.17):

1. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of titles and pristige and power?

2. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of friends and family?

3. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means the loss of money?

4. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means misunderstanding and even expulsion?

5. Will we be revolutionaries for Jesus if it means massive personal upheaval?

Will we? Will you?

What are you trying to fill your life up with?

Do you see a soul revolution on the horizon?

I Asked For Wonder

SOMETIMES WE WISH THE WORLD COULD CRY
AND TELL US ABOUT THAT WHICH MADE IT
PREGNANT WITH FEAR-FILLING GRANDEUR.

SOMETIMES WE WISH OUR OWN HEART
WOULD SPEAK OF THAT WHICH MADE IT
HEAVEY WITH WONDER

-Abraham Heschel


I used to engage atheists in arguments over the explanatory power of theism versus atheism and arguments that dealt with the existence of God. I have found much of this experience as an exercise in futility. Now my 17 year old son is getting intellectually assaulted by an atheist in several of his classes in High School. He prays, listens, and loves but he does not want to argue.
I'm proud of the faithful presence he is in our public school system which are often breeding grounds for unbelief, profanity, perversity, and the pursuit of every kind of sinful pleasure under the sun.

For people who simply believe that Christianity is an intellectually defensible worldview and if people would only understand the arguments will bring them to the truth of the Christian faith simply misunderstand that life and people often don't work that way. How many circular endless discussions, debates, and fighting rounds must people participate in to find out how fruitless this all is? How many arguments have I heard Christians and atheists use that cuts just as much against their own view as the views of the other! How many "win at any cost" and "take no prisoners" approach by both sides have witnessed the callousness of intellectual elite power plays?

In the early church, the pagans did not yell, "Look at the power of their rational arguments" but "See how they love one another." I simply refuse to play by the rationalist game rules much less in the atheist's playground. Arguments proving God's existence or philosophic sophistry that there is a God out there is not the Living God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac that I depend my life upon. So when the atheist asks me to talk about philosophy or 'proof's' or 'facts' I simply turn the conversation and ask, 'You tell me the story of athiesm and how it makes for a better world and I will tell you the story of Israel, Jesus, and the church and how that gives life meaning and hope to this world. Most athiests simply opt out of that conversation and that is fine with me too.

Are There Aliens Among Us?

I have always loved the sci-fi genre and stories. Whether it be books or tv shows or movies, if there was an alien luking around in the background, I was hooked. I have especially been a fan of the old campy 1950's sci-fi classics. There usually was some telling truth or wisdom proverb whether it was War of the Worlds or the Time Machine. Christians have typically speculated not only is there intelligent life "out there" but can people really believe that humanity is really it?

Some people even go futher and suggest that Aliens have already been here and yes, they might be living next door to you unawares. I am sure angels have been to planet earth with most people unawares but I quess you can call me a skeptic even with my great love for a good sci-fi story or late night movie.

But what should be a Christians response if their were aliens? I will ask an even more practical discipleship question, what should be a Christian's response or the church's response to illegal aliens? I will have to say that as a middle-class white American law-abiding citizen, I am disappointed in either the lack of charity on one side and the lack of wisdom that appears at times on the other side. Whether we like it or not, the Hispanic community will one day probably be the largest majority in America. How the church responds now will have great impact for good or for ill when it comes to our attitudes and actions towards this mushrooming group of Americans and yes, illegal aliens.

Here are some questions that beg for answers:

1. What do we do with children who are illegal aliens? When they turn 18, are they instantly criminals?

2. It seems that the problems in our laws are legion. Either we don't follow the laws we currently have or we have bad laws or laws that do not make distinctions in tough and complicated situations. One thing many people agree on is radical reform is desperately needed!

3. How can we encourage people to work with getting citizenship rather than hiding from the authorities? Should people be illegal aliens indefinitely? If there are common law marriages without people doing the legal thing, should there be common law citizenship for people who have lived in this country for a long time?

4. Is there a way to reward people to apply for citizenship and discourage those who go around or against the law or must it be an either/or thing? Is there a better middle ground than what we have today?

5. Some Christians argue that there should be no borders at all? How should the church respond?

How shall we then live?

PRACTICAL DISCIPLESHIP

1. Find someone you see as a spiritual Father or Mother to mentor and disciple you.
2. Find a community to grow you spiritually (discipleship works best with others, not alone).
3. Practice spiritual disciplines and solitude with God.
4. Look for where God is at work and join in (serve with joy and not out of compulsion).
5. Read the Bible daily but listen to what God wants you to pray and read.
6. Do ministry, acts of kindness, and sacrificial giving in two's and three's (Christ is with you!).
7. God's love and grace fuels the flame of our desire and passion (chase fully after God).
8. Practice the presence of God always.
9. Spend time in prayer and God's Word with your children and family.
10. Ask God every week for divine appointments and expect the miraculous.

Any other suggestions?

Islam May Be God's Gift To Stir The Church Out Of Its Slumber

Islam is mounting a world-wide challenge to win Western nations to their faith . . . But the question is are we going to love Muslims and not hate them; to reach out to them in the name of Jesus; and to believe God for millions of Muslims around the world to discover the beauty of God in the person of Jesus Christ . . . One of the greatest challenges facing the church is how to respond to militant Islam. Muslims are convinced that America is conducting a holy war against them. When President Bush announced the Second Gulf War as a 'crusade,' Muslims knew they were right. Taking sides is not the answer. We must take God's side.

It is not the kingdom of democracy we must preach, but God's kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace through Jesus Christ' (excerpts from Floyd McClung YOU SEE BONES, I SEE AN ARMY). What we need is God's holy love in the church. What we have in the church too often does not really represent love much less God's holiness.

Do you think a holy love is missing in today's church?

What else do you think is missing?

The Elephant Standing in the Room

THE ELEPHANT STANDING IN THE ROOM IS 'THE CHURCH HAD CEASED TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS AS IT WENT ABOUT CONGRATULATING ITSELF FOR TRANSFORMING THE WORLD, NOT NOTICING, THAT IN FACT THE WORLD HAD TAMED THE CHURCH'

- Stanely Hauerwas

Let's be honest . . . most ministers do not know how to grow a church, most Christians really don't know what they are doing spiritually, and most churches do not really know the first thing about discipleship and mentoring and training others how to grow as a follower of Jesus and to make more disciples. Ask someone to disciple or spiritually mentor you and they will probably hand you a book. Why? Because they were never discipled and so they can not give away what they have never been shown or taught.

I remember hearing the story of a young college aged man who wrote the three best Christian leaders he knew that taught on the spiritual life. Two of the men wrote back and recommended books to him. The third man, the late Henri Nouwen invited the young man to live with him for a short while and learn discipleship first hand. I do believe its this kind of daring courage and risky faith that Nouwen demonstrated over and over in his life that the Church desperately needs today.

Jesus never wrote a book (something worth pondering) but I always thought if Jesus did, it would be short, consise, and simple books like Nouwen wrote with few words and big print. The simplicity and the beauty of the gospel seems lost in today's confused and complicated world of mega-churches and televangelists. Nouwen fiercely loved Jesus and he spent his later years working with the handicapped and the disabled.

How daring and risky are you when it comes to living out your faith in an unbelieving world?

I Pledge Allegiance To . . . ?

CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT DISCIPLESHIP IS
ALWAYS CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT CHRIST
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How is it that we live in "the most Christian country" in the world and see how things have gotten so corrupt morally and spiritually? Christianity in the West is in decline while Christianity in the global south is exploding. Yet the West holds all the cards, possesses all the resources, and still calls all the shots. What's wrong with this picture? In many ways, Christianity in today's environment seems to more inoculate people from the real thing, the gospel, and few seem to be getting real vacinnations that take us into the deeper life with Christ.

I remember in the early 1980's, one leading writer for Christianity Today wrote that the kind of Christianity we are winning people to will be to its own undoing in the end. And then there was Os Guiness who wrote a little later in his Gravedigger Files that the church was to change the culture but the culture was rather changing the church which made the church into its own gravedigger in the end.

An excellent book on dealing with discipleship issues in today's world is Lee Camp Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a rebellious world (Brazos Press, 2003). Lee is doing some creative discipleship over the radio in Nashiville Tennessee and he hits some key issues in his book. One of these issues is "Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God." The question is are we going to follow the empire of power building or the way of the cross which is the suffering Servant way of Jesus?

When Jesus cleaned out the temple, we can easily interpet this hard text of Scripture as a moment for righteous anger or not selling things in a church building or cleaning out your spiritual temple, your own body. But all these miss the deeper implications of the prophetic acting out that Jesus is doing. The temple represented the national allegiance of the people. Israel thought that as long as they had the temple, they would not come under judgment. But they put more stock in their national identity than their spiritual indentity with the Messiah. So the Messiah's temple is destroyed and resurrected whereas the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed later in 70 AD.

Do we get out allegiances confused today? Don't many American Christians think that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of America are almost the same thing? Haven't most Christians bought into the lie of the myth of redemptive violence and that evil resides in those outside of America whereas this country, rather than the church, has become the city on a hill?

Does not even the church in America think that it's job is to be in charge, to make the world right, to convert everyone to our way of thinking and living as Americans? In the end, when Jesus comes back, He is looking for faith in the world.

Where is your faith and what are you trusting in?

An Arrow Pointing to Heaven

"GOD GAVE US THE BIBLE NOT TO PROVE
THAT WE WERE RIGHT ABOUT
EVERYTHING BUT THAT GOD IS RIGHT,
AND THE REST OF US ARE JUST QUESSING"
- Rich Mullins


James Byran Smith wrote an amazing devotional biography on Rich Mullin called AN ARROW POINTING TO HEAVEN (Broadman Press, 2000). Most people remember Rich as a powerful Christian singer. But what many people may not know is Rich was a radical lover of Jesus who lived among Native Americans for a while as he served the Lord. In Brennan Manning terms, Rich was a ragamuffin who loved other ragmamuffins.

Rich Mullins had a depth of quality to him that is difficult to put into words. I remember hearing him in concert one time and he spoke genuinely and deeply about God's love and brokeness and how God's Word defined him and everything around him. He was a man from Indiana who had both substance and character in the way he conducted the affairs of his life. May God raise up more disciples with soaring spirits and passionate love for the weak and downtrodden of society.

Heaven on Earth?

"INSTEAD OF TRYING TO GROW BIGGER
CHURCHES, WE OUGHT TO BE TRYING
TO GROW BIGGER CHRISTIANS.

THE CRUCIAL QUESTION IS NOT HOW
MANY PEOPLE ARE IN OUR SEATS BUT
HOW MANY PEOPLE WE ARE SENDING
OUT INTO THE WORLD TO BE THE
PRESENCE OF CHRIST"
-Rich Mullins


We love to talk about heaven today. What a wonderful place it will be. Nobody wants to go there right now but at the end of life, I sure want to inhabit that place. But does not God want to inhabit us NOW? Does not God want to bring heaven down to earth (read Rev.21:1-5). What do we really think Jesus was saying when he taught his disciples to pray "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven?" Does God want to make what is already happening in heaven to happen on earth? Are we supposed to be simply earthy people or heavenly men and women?

I remember reading the exciting biography of Brother Yun and the under ground church. He was a man who lived out things one reads in the book of Acts. He even escaped from Prison like Peter did miraculously in Acts. When Brother Yun was imprisoned for his Christian faith, they simply asked him, "Are you an earthly man or a heavenly man?" If he said earthly man they would of let him go but if he said heavenly man, he was declaring himself a Christian and therefore would be locked up and tortured as a criminal.

Does not God ask us the same today? Are you an earthly man or a heavenly man? Are you showing a glimpse of heaven on earth or are you living in such a way that one can not tell which one you really are? No matter what happens in this world, God is calling forth his beautiful Bride, the church, to extend God's kingdom on earth. Maybe that is why the Bible also calls it the kingdom of heaven?

Monster Christianity

Christianity has become a big and scary thing for some people. Everything from the big bad Christians are trying to take over the government and dominate the world to some of the worse monsters I have ever run into were people who called themselves Christians.

For too long we have focused on church growth and evangelism and not discipleship. Is it little wonder that we have a form of Christianity that more follows Paul's list in the Bible of the flesh rather than the Spirit? Discipleship can not be an option any more for those who say they are followers of Jesus. Discipleship requires great sacrifice and is essential to spiritual formation and faithful Christian living.

I grew up watching monster movies. When everyone was playing cowboys and Indians, I was playing Planet of the Apes. When kids were playing Batman and Superman, I was playing Vampires and Werewolves. Vampire Christianity is all around me. Just give me a little of your blood Jesus but not too much because I want to suck the life out of everything in this world. Vampires used to scare me. Now they don't for the walking dead are all around me.

But I will say werewolves still scare me. I see so much evil in the world today and I'm scared. I'm also scared of my own spiritual complacency, moral compromises, and cowardice as a disciple of Jesus. So when I go to bed at night, I am not afraid that I will be killed by a werewolf, I am afraid of becoming one.

Looking Through a Glass Darkly

When you read the Bible, what do you see? Are we reading Scripture or books about Scripture? Is the Bible reading us or are we simply browsing through it? The Bible is to be a mirror that shows our true nature and self. Many are afraid to look into this mirror because it disturbs, challenges, and will not leave us where we are at. When we read the Bible, if we do not see ourselves in its mirror, we will have missed what God truly wants to show us. It takes courage to look deeply into the mirror of God's Word!

Have you looked in the mirror today?

Discipleship Brings Unity

"WE'VE GOT TO UNITE OURSELVES AS
ONE BODY. BECAUSE JESUS IS COMING
BACK FOR A BRIDE, NOT A HAREM"
-Tony Campollo


The future of the church is integrally connected to our unity in Christ's mission. Seeking the unity of Christ's body (the church) is a neccessary component to Christian discipleship. Our life in God is the basis for unity in our life with one another (John 17).

Unfortunately, the church needs to be the first to repent of religious pride, ecclesiastical arrogance, and its own self-sufficency. We live in a day where Christians are decieved into thinking they can live fine without the church or community. But the whole Bible and Christian faith is within the context of relationships and community. God hates schism and division but in some churches, these are almost virtues.

God calls us to repentance and for his whole bride (the church) to come together as one people. This is not a "sola" (only) invisible reality but one that is to be lived out and visibly seen by others. Its a decision for discipleship. Vatican 2 had it right when it said, "division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature." Oh, if all the major tribes of the church would radically live this out rather than give it mere lip service.

So we pray and wait, serve and hope for that day when the Messianic Banquet takes all of God's divided people and finally unites them (Matt.22:1-14; Rev.19:9).

Do you believe that unity is an important component of Christian discipleship? What should Christians or churches be doing to preserve better the unity of the faith?

Follower or Admirer Of Jesus?

The Great Dane, Soren Kierkegaard, lived in the middle of the 18th century wrote words which have infuriated and captivated Christians. Here is a sampling from his "Provocations:"

"It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression 'follower.' He never asks for admirers. No, he calls disciples. There is nothing to admire in Jesus, unless you want to admire poverty, misery, and contempt . . . Admirers keep themselves at a safe distnace. They are only all too willing to serve Christ as long as proper caution is exercised, lest one personally come in contact with danger. As such, they refuse to accept that Christ's life is a demand. In actual fact, they are offended by him" (p.85-86).

"When everything is favorable to our Christianity, it is all too easy to confuse an admirer with a follower. The admirer can be in the delusion that the position he takes is the true one, when all he is doing is playing it safe . . . The difference between an admirer and a follower still remains, no matter where you are. The admirer never makes any true sacrifices . . . He renounces nothing, will not reconstruct his life, will not be what he admires. Not so for the follower. No, no. The follower aspires with all his strength, with all his will to be what he admires" (pp.86, 88).

Are you a follower or an admirer of Jesus?