We are working on clarifying our process of assimilation as a church and adding some material for our new community groups to work through as they start. This gives us the chance to help people really get their heart and mind around who we are as a church and what we are committed to, but to explain those key elements in the context of relationships where they can be explained, talked about, and ultimately lived out. You don’t believe your mission statement until it is lived out and people outside your community would claim those things are true about you. You are not what you say – you are what you do and what you celebrate.
So I’m working on the week on Missional Living and I came across this powerful quote by John Stott from his book “The Cross of Christ”:
“In all evangelism there is… a cultural gulf to bridge. This is obvious when Christian people move as messengers of the gospel from one country or continent to another. But even if we remain in our own country, Christians and non-Christians are often widely separated from one another by social sub-cultures and lifestyles as well as by different values, beliefs, and moral standards. Only an incarnation can span these divides, for an incarnation means entering other people’s worlds, their thought-world, and the worlds of their alienation, loneliness, and pain. Moreover, the incarnation led to the cross. Jesus first took our flesh, then he bore our sin. This was a depth of penetration into our world in order to reach us, in comparison with which our little attempts to reach people seem amateur and shallow. The cross calls us to a much more radical and costly kind of evangelism than most churches have begun to consider, let alone experience.“
Life has been hectic, busy, and challenging lately. I needed to get some fuel back in the spiritual tank so I picked up a little book by Mike Mason called Champagne for the Soul. This book came at just the right time with its simple premise of rediscovering God’s gift of joy. It’s a 90 day journey to practice the discipline of joy.
Just finished up chapter 10 tonight and just wanted to share a couple of quotes:
“Joy is a biblical commandment. Is it fair for God to command you to be happy? Aren’t the odds overwhelmingly stacked against you? No, this is a lie. The truth is that Jesus has done everything to secure your happiness, in order that His “joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)
“Happiness is not happenstance, but rather it involves a profound spiritual discipline. If I want to be strong, I don’t sit around waiting until I’m strong enough to lift weights; rather, I lift weights in order to become strong. To accept joy as a commandment is to admit that it doesn’t come to one effortlessly but requires the cooperation of the will to achieve. Like salvation, joy is a free gift of God that cannot be earned, yet even a gift must be opened and actively enjoyed by the recipient. It takes energy to “shout for joy to the Lord,” but it takes just as much energy (or more) to be miserable. Why not rechannel our efforts to something more fun?”
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:1-2
Funny how I’ve seen people confronted for cheating on their spouse, or for talking behind someone’s back, or being to harsh with their kiddos, or for eating the last piece of cake; but NEVER have I seen someone, much less myself, confronted for joylessness. Thinking there is some stuff in my life that needs to change in a big way.
Dropping this tasty morsel in my sermon today on Nehemiah 2 I’m calling “Following Hard After God.”
To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard stated this holy paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly understood by every worshipping soul:
We taste Thee? O Thou Living Bread,
And long taste upon Thee still:
We drink of Thee, the Fountainhead
And thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. “Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight”; and from there he rose to make the daring request, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” God was frankly pleased by this display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.
David’s life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad shout of the finder. Paul confessed the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. “That I may know Him,” was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed everything. “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ.”
-A.W. Tozer
I wrapped up reading Matthew this morning. Found it interesting that before the Passion and after the Passion there was a common thread of response to Christ – WORSHIP.
Chapter 26 gives us a window into the Last Supper. Christ is sitting around a table with His disciples preparing to become the perfect Pascal Lamb so He leads His men through a meal that would be the reminder of His mercy for His people for thousands of years. When they are finished eating, they sing a hymn (v. 30).
Chapter 28 gives us two windows, one at the tomb and one with the disciples. The two Mary’s are going to the tomb of Christ when suddenly Jesus mets them. Their only response is to run to him, fall to His feet, and worship (v. 9 – proskuneo). The disciples are waiting where they had been told and when Jesus shows up what is their first response? Worship (v. 17 – proskuneo).
The word that is used in chapter 28 in both instances is the greek word proskuneo which means an expression of profound reverence but it is always connected with a physical response. Either kissing a hand, kneeling in honor, or laying prostrate on the ground out of respect. When people are in the presence of a king or someone of great position or stature they show some sign of respect, maybe a bow. So when we enter into the presence of the Living God how do we respond? Do our hearts melt before Christ as we grasp His majesty – the earth was created by Him and for Him? Do our knees bend as we get a glimpse of how God always keeps His word and through Jesus made a covenant of love with us so that Christ takes our place of punishment so we can take His place of loved child before God? Do we worship when we realize that His words of revelation are true and that He is completely trustworthy?
Here is a free aid for your worship today:
I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows
I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation
I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven
Interesting to me how Dan Brown’s new movie Angels & Demons is producing a much smaller fire storm of controversy this round then when the DaVinci Code came out. I didn’t think the movie was that great but I thought the book was well done. What I most enjoyed about the book was how it got people talking about Christ, the Bible, and the historical facts surrounding Christianity. Conversations happened at work, with neighbors, at restaurants, and with random people in between. We Americans love drama but we also have a short attention span so I’m betting this movie doesn’t stir up as much heat as it did before.
If you need help processing what is fact and what is fiction in Angels & Demons check out this well done site by Westminster: TruthAboutAngelsAndDemons.com.
I don’t know what you woke up to this morning. Don’t know what you will face today. I don’t know what you will have to deal with as you head home this evening. What I do know is that in this life we have will have triumphs and trials. The thing that will define our lives is not that good and bad will come, because they will. What we will be defined by is what strength we use, or don’t use, to walk through this life.
At the end of his life Martin Luther the great reformer commented on the day he stood before the Diet of Worms, not knowing whether he would be imprisoned or executed. He said, “I was afraid of nothing: God can make one so DESPERATELY bold.”
Henry David Thoreau is famous for saying, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
What is the difference between living a life of quiet desperation and a living a life that is desperately bold? The answer – your vision of God. Is your God like a rabbit’s foot that you rub on when you need luck or the God that you cling to when the storms are pulling you down and you cry “Lord, save us!” . . . right before you say “what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him?” Is your idea of a relationship with God reading your bible for 10 minutes when you start to feel guilty or lonely enough or is it like Jesus is the moment by moment sustenance that provides life itself and makes you cry out “I can’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Is your idea of the after life like watching Cirque du Soleil with little fairies playing harps and bouncing on trampolines or is it God’s presence crashing into this earth so that death is swallowed up, sadness is destroyed, and evil is annihilated so completely and profoundly that all you can do in the sight of God is sing Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God all mighty who was and is and is to come! Do you love God only for what He does for you, like a cosmic slot machine, or for who He is as perfect, righteous, mighty and true, like unrivaled deity. Is grace and salvation a right you deserve because of your own moral goodness or is does the good news – of Christ crucified for the sins of the world, resurrected by God’s power to defeat Satan’s schemes and my heart’s rebellion, and his promised return to make all things new – melt your heart because you realize that because you put yourself in the place that only God deserves (as the wise and happy king/queen of your life), that God sent His own Son to stand in the place only I deserved.
May God bless you today, not with a feeling of being challenged, but with the power of His Spirit to produce change. May your hope and power and ability to overcome not be your power but His power working in you and through you as you cling to the cross of Christ. May Christ not bring peace to your life but a sword (Matthew 10:34), so that you may fight whatever comes . . . in His strength and for His fame.
Today is my birthday. Out of all the gifts God has graciously given me the one I relish today is the gift of friendship. Not just friends – GREAT FRIENDS. So here is a shout out to people who have influenced me in the last 12 months:
Kraig Kubicek – The man who has supported me and fought alongside me in the greatest and most glorious battle of both of our lives.
Todd Wagner – A man who is the boldest leader I’ve ever known and cherishes God’s word in a way I only dream of.
Brian Carlucci – A true friend who cares more about the Kingdom than his own glory.
My Pops – Though he is in heaven, his sacrifice for those that others view as unimportant bids me to daily come and die for the sake of Christ.
My Mom - Prayer warrior, nough said.
Brian Howard – More than a brother-in-law, he has been a lighthouse to give me bearings in tough times as I watch with amazement how he graciously maneuvers the difficult waters of Godly leadership.
John McGee – Faithful brother who gets my back and holds up my arms when I need it most.
Kirk Adkisson – Mentor, lover of the lost, and church practitioner extrodinaire.
Sam Downing – A great example of leadership who challenges me to build this church on the gospel.
Hunter Beaumont – A man who has taught me how to pastor my own heart and our church’s heart after Christ above strategy, vision, and know-how.
Brian Hays, David Leventhal, Jay Jacobs – My band of brothers who have prayed and supported me to faithfully follow Christ’s call no matter the cost.
Nate & Heather Disarro – Who have shouldered the burden of our church and sacrificed their own comfort to see this region hear the gospel.
Robbie & Stef Hunter – That love our church and support me as a leader, especially when I need it most.
Josh Cook – To expect great things from God and that waiting on the Lord brings strength.
Amanda Kubicek – The wife of my great friend who has sacrificed much comfort with a heart to make our church great.
Cherise Fleming – Crazy Hot, Hard Working, and Christ-like. There has never been a greater wife then you. She is the sole reason we are giving our life and energy and courage and influence and purpose for the fame of Him whose name outshines the stars!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus – There’s just something about that name.
It’s my birthday, and I’m blessed.
Here was the video that we used this past Sunday. The goal of the video was to capture all the different ways the grace of Christ is showing up in the lives of sweet church family. I love my church!!
