The Outward Movement of the Gospel

Daily Reading: Numbers 9:15-23; Acts 28

So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. 

He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. Acts 28:23-24

It is a powerful example of Paul that wherever God takes him he continues to use the same method to spend the Gospel that was given in Acts 1:8. Even after being almost killed by the Jews in Israel Paul does not give up on them. When arriving in Rome his first initiated contact is to the local Jewish community. Paul brings them together and shares the gospel. Even though, by now, I’m sure Paul knew before hand that most of the Jews would reject his proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ he still gave them the opportunity to receive the invitation.

This past week I have been at a retreat called Missio Ecclesia, which has been a powerful call for our church to begin to live missionally. The retreat was brought to us and hosted by our Bishop, Ken Carter. During the first evening he shared powerfully from his heart and we were challenged that we need to be making disciples both within as well as without the church. The bishop told us that he was looking for Methodist within the Methodist church to bring the church back to its rightful place. The church is full of religious people who are not disciples of Christ.

We next heard from Alan Hirsch, one of the great missiologist of our day. Hirsch continued to tack on from the bishop by telling us that “If the religious are saying nice things about you, you are probably not living like Jesus.” What was true in the first century is still true today. Many of the religious establishment will simply not get what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but we still have to try to share with them the invitation to surrender to become disciples of Christ. 

Don’t miss one thing from the passage today. After the majority of the Jews rejected Paul’s invitation into the Body of Christ we read in the last two sentences of Acts that, “For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.” (Acts 28:30-31) Paul never stopped proclaiming the great news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We to, if we are disciples, need to be in the business of making disciples, to whom ever God places within our paths.

Lord, Help me to be bold with your gospel, in the church and outside her as well.  Amen.

Take Courage

Daily Reading: Psalms 23; Acts 27

But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me… Acts 27:22-23

Acts 27 tells us that after battling a horrible storm for several days, having not eaten and fearing for their lives Paul comes to the ships crew and gives this powerful encouragement. Paul had such an intimate relationship with Christ that he had angels of the Lord come to him and direct his path. Here’s the great news, we can all have this relationship! In fact, if we are surrendered to Christ and growing in our walk with Him we have our host of angels walking alongside our path. 

I have never heard God speak to me through the physical presence of an angel coming to stand beside me, but I have experienced the voice of God clearly speaking in my mind to give me direction, especially in a time of distress. I have experienced the living presence of the Holy Spirit walking with me and in me.  

The question for me is, “Am I growing as a disciple of Christ?” This is the key. John Wesley often talked about the “means of grace.” These are the disciplines that we do to put us into a place of openness to the filling of God’s grace. They are practices that are not to be looked at legalistically, but with joy, as God has given us certain things we can do that open pathways of connection with Him.  This past few days I have been at a Clergy Retreat called Missio Ecclesia where we were reminded of our primary calling as Christians, which was and is to be disciples and disciple makers.

During our first day our Bishop, Ken Carter gave us a working definition of discipleship from the book Longing for Spring, by Heath and Kisker.

Discipleship

A process of initiation

into a holy life,

revealed in Jesus Christ,

anchored in the church,

empowered by the Holy Spirit,

surrendered to the reign of god,

for the transformation of the world.

As I read through this active description of discipleship it is evident that there is work involved in this process, but I see the glow of God through it as well. I am spending the next couple of weeks, while on a mission trip to the Congo to break down his discipleship process for me own life. So that I can grow in the presence of God with me daily!

Lord, grow us in you, so that we can sense the fullness of you with us minute by minute. Amen.

I Admit I Follow the Way

Daily Reading: Numbers 2:34; Acts 24

“But I admit that I follow the Way..Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people” Acts 24:14a, 16

One of the things that is most striking to me about Paul is that he never retreats from his faith. Paul had been radically converted on the Road to Damascus and there had been no turning back. Not only is Paul bold in his faith, Paul also is clear in his conscience. 

I once heard a preacher admonish our congregation that we need to live a life that is above reproach before humanity accept for the fact that we are children of the Way. I have taken this to mean, within my own life, that I am called to live purely within my community, but I am to outwardly live my faith. If people are going to convict me of something it will be because they have issue with my Christianity, not with my moral conduct.  

We may be reading this and say, “Well, isn't this how all christians are called to live?” I would say yes, but at the same time I have been amazed with how I watch brothers and sisters in Christ bifurcate their lives, separating their secular life from their spiritual life. When they are within the church or at a fellow christians home their faith is strong and evident before all. Walk with them the next day with their secular golfing buddies and there is no mention of their faith or even an indication within conversation that they might be a follower of Christ. I once was sharing this idea with a congregation and after the service one of our young men came up to me and admitted that within his work place no one knew that he was a Christian. He wanted to get ahead in his job and felt that if he shared his christian ideas it would hurt him in his work place and so he had hid them from his co-workers.  Please understand one thing here. I’m not calling people to be rude or obnoxious in our faith. I know people who everyone knows is christian because they are beating everyone up with their faith. But, I know that Paul understood that he could speak on no matter or enter no situation where his faith was not prevalent to the discussion. 

If we are disciples of Christ, growing in our faith, then our faith will direct our conversations, our ideas, our discussions. Let us live a life connected in love with our neighbors, community and beyond, and let us within this connected live love our community well enough that we will not shy away from our faith but let that faith come through in our dialogs and discussions.

Lord, help me to always show that I am truly a follower of the Way.  Amen

Leonard Sweet Books

Greetings Everyone,

I'm sorry I have not posted anything for the past several days. I'm finding that my writing time has gone away while I'm getting ready to go on our mission trip to the Congo. I will try to do better over the next week, but may not be able to post while in the Congo.

This past Sunday I was asked to recommend my favorite Leonard Sweet books as some of you would like to go deeper with him after having him share at the church. Below I list three of my favorites and also a couple of my other current reads that I am getting into.   Good Reading!!

Below are two books I have been into lately. The first is a classic by E. Stanly Jones and the second is a book that anyone who is concerned with church growth should read, Better Together.

Preaching to the Choir

Daily Reading: Acts 17

As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. Acts 17:2

Some of us are slow at learning truth. For years I have read Acts 1:8 where Jesus tells the disciples that they will be witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth in the wrong way. I always interpreted Jerusalem to mean our local community. I live in Wildwood, FL so for me my Jerusalem would be Wildwood. Something occurred to me through my reading over the past few days. Whenever Paul enters a town he goes to the synagogue first. Paul always takes the message of Christ to the religious insiders. Maybe Paul’s Jerusalem is the religious insider. Maybe our Jerusalem is our own church! 

Several years ago I read a very compelling book called The Continuing Conversion of the Church, by Darrell Guder where he calls us to the ministry of the continual conversion of our own christian community. Guder shows how our church communities are often full of non-disciples. If I change how I read Jesus’ call to be a witness it gives me a more complete picture of the mission field before me. First, we need to go to our own sisters and brothers where we make sure we proclaim the true gospel and from there enter into our community to friends and neighbors and then to the people whom we would not normally go to, the people who are different from us…finally we have to go to the whole world.  

It is further insightful that Paul’s greatest attacks always come from the religious insiders. When I started a Christian Coffeehouse, in Tallahassee, over the course of four years the only attacks we received all came from Church people. The most common attack would come because we would not disseminate one groups propaganda over another groups. We would tell a secular group who wanted to put out materials that we would put nobodies information out, so that we could be equal to all. None of these groups ever had a problem with it, in fact we often would get a affirmation. But, when we would tell a church group the same thing they would invariably attack us and say that we are not really “Christian.” 

Let us not forget to live out the gospel to our own brothers and sisters in the church freely telling the story of God’s great love.

Lord, help me to be consistent with the gospel wherever I am and may we see a revival come to the church.  Amen

And When You Fast…

Daily Reading: Acts 13

One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

Luke starts this chapter by giving us a picture of the leaders of the church in Antioch––A wonderful cross-cultural, multi-racial community of leaders. Immediately following this listing of the leaders he lets us know that they were “worshiping the Lord and fasting.” In the Preaching the Word Commentary, Kent Hughes says, “Fasting is always a mark of deep spiritual concern, indicating that a person is willing to set aside the normal demands of life in order to concentrate for a time on what God wants.” From the very beginning of the church our leaders have realized that to hear the voice of God takes discipline and commitment. Am I willing to fast and pray––set aside the normal demands of life––so that I can connect more deeply with the heart of God? 

Within the rise of Methodism, John Wesley emphasized fasting as one of the means of grace, admonishing his pastors to fast at least two days a week and for the laity to fast one day. Wesley was not trying to create legalism, but he understood that when the disciple sets aside something (food) and uses that extra time to center her focus on God that the door is opened to the disciple to receive more of God’s grace. 

On this Saturday before Ash Wednesday I am blessed to read this verse, “as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting.” It encourages me to commit to fast during this upcoming lenten season. Not as a legalistic enterprise, but as an opportunity to realign my heart and soul on the true provider of my strength and ability, Jesus Christ. 

Lord, Lead me to you and to no other as the center of my heart and focus.  Amen.

Just Like Us

Originally written February 3

Daily Reading: Acts 10

This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. Acts 10:36

Acts 10 is a very special chapter of Scripture within my life. During the time that I was wrestling with God over my call I was in the process of reading through the New Testament and this story of Peter going to Cornelius’ house grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go.

When I read this story I was drawn into the play between Peter’s faithfulness to separate himself from anything unclean and God’s call to reach out to that which Peter has considered unclean. I’m sure Peter worked hard to keep himself ritually pure, yet God calls him to enter into the house of a Roman military officer. In essence God was telling Peter, that Cornelius was just like him. God calls us to the whole world because the whole world is just like us. 26 years ago God grabbed my heart with this overwhelming conviction that I was called to reach out and sacrificially love the world around me, especially those within the world whom I would not normally want to go and love, because in reality they were just like me. 

The call has not changed. God’s call is summed up in verse 36, “that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of ALL!!” If Jesus Christ is Lord of ALL, the scripture implies that Jesus lived and died for ALL. The implication of this is that we then, as his Church are called to live and die for ALL whom Jesus loved, which is everyone.  We are called to share God’s love with everyone, plain and simple.  

Israel lost the blessing of God because Israel did not live into the call of God to bless the world. We too can easily lose the blessing, if we choose any path other than an outward missional path of sharing Christ love with the world around us.

Lord, help me to join with you in a mission of love to my Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.  Amen.

The Mission

Daily Reading: Exodus 32; Acts 8

…A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:1b

There is a lot happening at the beginning of Acts 8. We have just experienced the first martyrdom of the church, and we have just met Saul, the zealot persecutor of Christians, who is soon to become Paul the great missionary of the gospel. The biggest thing I see happening is our missional God doing whatever it takes to make sure we continue to be a missional people.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus had told the newly forming church that their marching orders were clear––they were going to witness to the world Jesus, in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and finally to the ends of the earth. Already by Acts chapter seven we find the church closing in upon itself, within Jerusalem, starting to pull away from the missional call of Christ. How easily we do the same thing today. I am amazed at how many “mission” or “evangelism” meetings I have attended where we sit around a table and for hours plotting a campaign to share the gospel, where we do not have to leave the confines of the church building. 

The most common creative idea that I hear is we need to invest in an advertising campaign. The problem with this is that God’s call to his people is that we physically are missional in nature. We are called, as the body of Christ, to go out and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Statistics have proven over and over that 98% of people who come to Christ come through the invitation of a close friend or family member. 

To read the story of God is to experience the missional nature of God. From Genesis through the Old Testament God worked through his people, the nation of Israel, to try to get them to live up to their call to be a missional people. Yet they never would do it. So, God left Israel and moved his covenant to a new people, to us who claim to be disciples of Christ!! But our call is simple and the call is to be missionaries to the world. Are we willing to love our neighbors enough to live authentically as Christians before them? Are we willing to leave Jerusalem and get out into Judea and Samaria? God will do whatever it takes to continue to make his name known, the question is, will we be part of his great plan?

Lord God, use me to be part of your glorious plan to bless all the peoples of the earth. Amen.

United In Prayer, Two

Daily Reading: Psalm 12; Acts 4

When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God…After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:24a, 31

Four times in Acts we find the word “together” combined with the word “prayer.” The translation I am using says, “together in prayer,” but the best way to translate these words from the greek would be to say, “in one accord they prayed.” That may not seem like anything substantial but every time we hear “in one accord they prayed” God comes and does something big. In three of the four circumstances this “in one accord they prayed” is followed by a new filling of the Holy Spirit.

I was taught that when you see something repeated in Scripture it means you should take notice and if it is repeated three times it is really important. So there must be something to this “praying in one accord” that we find in Acts. Several years ago I saw an interviewer ask Billy Graham why his evangelistic crusades seemed to have such an impact. Was it because of the way he preached, or was it because of the unbelievable support structure of the Billy Graham Association? Graham was very quick to downplay anything other than united prayer. He expressed that from the very beginning of the Billy Graham Association every crusade that ever took place was preceded by a multitude of people joining together in united prayer, not just for days or weeks, but for months and sometimes years before the crusade took place. 

Do we want to see God do big things today? If we do, than the natural question is, are we ready to unite ourselves in prayer? Not just the typical prayers for Aunt Jenny’s persistent back spasms or my friend Jeff’s conflict at work. Are we ready to join together in communal prayer petitioning God on behalf of our community? Are we ready to pray for the lost, the least, and the hurting in our neighborhoods? Are we ready to pray for boldness in our proclamation of Christ to our friends? 

I believe God is waiting to do something beyond what any of us could ever imagine, right here in The Villages. It will not happen, though, because we come up with some great advertising campaign or even get a new building. It will happen when we join together to begin the hard task of united prayer!

Lord, unite us in prayer for our community and world. Amen.

Community Life

Daily Reading: Exodus 14; Acts 2

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, 

and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. Acts 2:42

Wow, what a day! After the preparation of chapter one the Lord saw that the people were ready and the Holy Spirit came in a BIG way! The people spoke in other languages, so that everyone could understand them. Peter preached the first sermon of the church and 3,000 people were added to the church through baptism. It was truly a momentous first day of the Holy Spirit filled church.

While I love the story of God’s grace flowing like a mighty river out of the lives of newly Spirit filled people, I am drawn to this one little line following the first day story. It gives us such a beautiful picture of authentic community life within the church. It calls us to look at the whole by examining the parts.

The first word is “all.” All the believers, not just some, not just those who didn’t have golf games or dinner appointments, or pickle ball matches, or those who felt like it. All the believers! I have had people (actual members of my church) tell me that I didn’t have a right to tell them that they needed to devote themselves to anything. All the believers “devoted themselves.” In the context I would define devoted as joyful surrender. The believers joyfully surrendered themselves to something other than themselves. What did they devote themselves to? 

They devoted themselves to four things: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, sharing of meals (including the Lords Supper), and to prayer. The apostles’ teaching is the Word, they devoted themselves to studying the Word, to living a life of spiritual growth. Fellowship is coming together with a few other people to live out christian life. These 3,000 people were forming smaller communities where they became close to one another. They were creating places where they could be transparent. It is in transparency that I am putting myself in a place of surrender and growth. When my friends can know me, the real me, they can both give me acceptance and they can give me challenge where I need it. At the heart of fellowship is the sharing of meals, but this is not just any meal they were sharing the common meal, but they were also sharing the Lord’s supper. This means they were as small communities centering themselves on Christ, around the table. Yesterday I experienced a day of Len Sweet and he talked extensively about the need for the table and that the table is the most important piece of furniture within a home. It is here that we really can share our hearts and become real people and here where we impart the depth of our faith to the next generation. Lastly, they participated in prayer. Just as we witnessed in chapter one, at the foundation of christian community is prayer. Our personal as well as community strength comes out of our prayer. 

As we have launched small groups within the Lake Deaton Campus at New Covenant we have tried to center our groups around these basic practices, believing that by living these practices out within a small group community we will put ourselves in a place of surrendered growth in Christ. Literally, we will live as disciples!

Lord, give us small group communities where we can join with others to grow as disciples.  Amen.

United In Prayer

Daily Reading: Exodus 12, 13:17-22; Acts 1

They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. Acts 1:14

The first Chapter of Acts is a vivid description of the transitional time for the infant church. I see God taking the remnant of 120 followers through the grief process from walking with a physically present Christ and preparing them for their future ministry after being filled with the promised Holy Spirit. In this one chapter we get a refreshed mission for the church, “be my witnesses to the full earth!” (Acts 1:8) We experience Christ’s ascending into the clouds and we get to watch the Apostles working through issues of community and the choosing of a new Apostle. This one line, though, gives us a foundation for the church that is central to our continued ministry as the Body of Christ today, “they all met together and were constantly united in prayer.” 

At the foundation of the budding of the new church and throughout the entire history of the church God has called his people to be united in prayer. We do not engage the world like any other organization on earth. We do not fight our battles with earthly weapons or clever orators, we fight our battles on our knees centering ourselves on a person, Jesus Christ. We will find in the Book of Acts that prior to every great Godly event the Body is united in prayer. These early followers of Jesus knew that their hope came from staying connected to the vine and that their battles were spiritual in nature. They had watched Jesus probably hundreds of times get away to pray to the Father. And they knew that now they were called to pray to Jesus, their advocate before the Father. 

I am guilty, along with most of us modern Christians in getting caught up in slogans, music, marketing, preaching technics, etc, etc, etc, and forgetting the most foundational element of our ministry, PRAYER! At the center of our being we need to regain a dependence on united prayer. Centering our hearts, our ministries and our lives on Christ and Christ alone.

Lord, help us to become a people of united prayer that we may see you work mightily within our lives and our community.  Amen.

Producing Fruit

Daily Reading: Luke 19

“…and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” Luke 19:26b

I think sometimes we Christians don’t like this passage because we are confronted with a harsh sounding Jesus, yet the Gospels are full of similar passages. While we emphasis that our salvation is the work of God and that our hope by faith alone we can never get away from passage after passage where Christ calls us to be a people who produce fruit. 

Maybe if we knew what kind of fruit we were created to produce it would help us know how to take this and similar passages. Within the Gospels are two passages that sum up the whole of the kinds of fruit we are called to be about, Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:16-20.  Basically we are called to produce there fruit of LOVE, ever increasing love for God and for the people around us, and out of our love we are to produce disciples. We are the chosen messengers of the Good News to a world that needs to hear it. Christ even shares how we are to love. We love sacrificially and we love through service to those in need.  

We can go into more depth at a latter time in developing these themes, but for todays Scripture I find that Christ is saying if you have received the gift of the Fathers love, fruit needs to be the outcome. It is kind of a harsh way to look at, but as I work through this passage while placing my trust firmly on the God’s grace I have to believe those people who never produce fruit have never really surrendered in faith to receive Christ. 

They may be active church members. They may know of God and even be good people, but they have never taken up their Cross to follow Jesus. The walk of the disciple is not about keeping balance, it is a full on sold out surrender to Christ. Then we will produce fruit!

Lord, help me take up my cross, daily and follow you.  Amen

Complete Surrender

Daily Reading: Genesis 45, Luke 18

Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Luke 18:16-17

We can take this passage along with similar passages found in Matthew (19:13-15) and Mark (10:13-16) to understand that Jesus is calling us to approach our faith with childlike qualities such as, “trust, openness, and the absence of holier-than-thou attitudes,” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary) and we would be right. We can also look a little deeper at the implications of Jesus’ invitation and move, I believe, into a deeper walk with God.

One of the practices that Methodists observe, along with many other Christian denominations, is that of infant baptism. When we perform baptism we believe we are initiating a person into the church. We believe that in the act of Baptism the Holy Spirit is working in the life of the baptized to incorporate that person, young or old, into the Body of Christ. I do not see this act as one of salvation but of initiation. In this act of initiation the baptized (again young or old) is not taking the stance of trust and openness, but of complete helplessness! Like an infant we are totally dependent on God’s grace and God’s work for our initiation into the family. There is simply nothing I can do that will initiate me into the family.

For the adult who has experienced salvation, as well as for the infant who is being raised in a Godly home, baptism is not so much his/her declaration of allegiance to God, but more so their launching off point as a new child within the family of God. Theologian Theodore Runyon says of baptism that in baptism God is the primary actor and in this all baptism becomes infant baptism. (Runyon, New Creation, 140) What he is saying is that every person who approaches entrance into the family of God approaches as an infant, and that the act of initiation is totally the act of God. 

Several years ago I was blessed to welcome, through baptism, a mother and her children into the Body of Christ through our Celebrate Recovery ministry. Through this act of initiation we are able to see Christ initiating this entire family––even her young children who were still years away from making a faith commitment––into the Body of Christ through God’s prevenient grace. Even thought the mother was probably somewhere in her mid thirties she entered that day into the family on an equal level of infancy as did her children and in entering in such a fashion of complete dependence on God through His Holy Spirit she put herself in a place of future growth.

When we practice the ceremony of remembering our baptism we are given the privilege to remember that, as children, God invited us, washed us and welcomed us into His family where we could become active in growth and in producing fruit for the Kingdom.

Lord, help us understand your grace and surrender ourselves anew to your work in our lives. Amen.

Powerball Mania!

Daily Reading: Genesis 39, Luke 16 

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Luke 16:13

Nestled in the middle of an entire chapter dealing with money is found this simple straightforward declaration to sum up the whole of the parables being taught. We cannot serve two masters. We cannot serve God and money! Sounds simple enough, yet we continue to struggle with this one (or maybe only I continue to struggle with this one). 

This is such a perfect passage to read the Saturday after our country has been caught up in Powerball Mania. I have been amazed to see the crazy things people will do and the long lines they will stand in to purchase their Powerball tickets. Someone told me this past Monday that the odds of winning the jackpot were better than being struck with lightning… while swimming underwater. I also love the comments that people make to me during a national event like this one, “Pastor, I’ve purchased some tickets this week, but I just wanted to let you know, because my goal is to bless the church.” 

While I’m sure (or at least I hope) that if one of my church members won the jackpot they would bless the church, let us be clear about why we play the lotto. We play because we get caught up in the idea of instant wealth. I have talked with enough people to understand that many of us believe, “If I could just win that wealth everything would be good!” My debts would be paid! My relationships mended! My future secure! Statistics show just the opposite for most large money winners of instantaneous jackpots, but that’s for another day. I want to look at a deeper issue. The words I often hear from people of why they play Powerball reveal a bit of the soul of that person and often the revelation is that their hope for their future is in something other than in God. Their hope is that money will give them whatever it is they feel they are missing in life. 

This may not be us. I have heard of one guy who won the jackpot when it was $58 million and he gave the entire amount away. And I heard of a mother and two daughters who won and paid off their debts, bought new cars, set up trusts funds for their kids education and then gave the rest away. So I do have two examples out of hundreds where theirs was a different motive. But, I would ask us each the simple question, “Why do we play Powerball?”

Lord, help me to singularly love and serve you. Amen.

Grandma Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Daily Reading: Genesis 33; Luke 13

He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” (Luke 13:20-21)

Every time I read this passage I think about my Grandmother Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. We only make them once a year at most, usually around the holidays. They have to be some of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten but they are very labor intensive to make so we can only afford a once a year commitment to producing them. They also probably add about 10,000 calorie's to our diet on the day we make them, which is not good for our physical health (but very very good for our spiritual health)!!

I think of Grandma Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls because they are the only thing that I ever make that has yeast as an ingredient. Even though we have probably made her cinnamon rolls 20 times in the past 25 years I am still amazed each time we make them with the impact of a small packet of dried yeast. At each stage of the recipe we return to find whatever we have done doubled or tripled in size. 

When I read this illustration of Jesus I put myself into the Kingdom of God, which is where I hope we all want to be. I know that God’s Kingdom is missional, in that God is working to redeem all of creation. Into that mission movement of God I picture myself as a small grain of yeast and I realize that even as the most insignificant grain of yeast I can have cataclysmic impact on creation because I am faithful to do my job. What is my job? It is to live out my faith, authentically within the lives of people around me. All that yeast does is be yeast, but the yeast is pushed and pulled and kneaded together with all the other ingredients all of the other ingredients expand and grow. 

A while back, I read an article online about yeast (pretty boring life, huh). I found that yeast does three things in a recipe: it makes the dough rise, it strengthens the dough and it gives flavor to the dough. When we faithfully live out our lives as yeast and enter into the community around us we are growing the Kingdom, strengthening the Kingdom and adding flavor to the community!  What an awesome privilege for living a simple life of living as we are called to live.

Several years ago I made Grandma’s recipe only to not have the dough rise. I started trying to figure out what was wrong and I learned that yeast can actually go bad. I realized that this ruined yeast is like Christians who bifurcate their lives by putting out their sacred mask when they are with Christians and putting on their secular mask when at the golf course or at work. If I am going to be yeast that changes makes pliable dough I have to be yeast wherever I am.

Lord, give me the humility to be the yeast that is needed to change my culture and re-create my community for the Kingdom of God.  Amen.

Intimacy with the Father!

Daily Reading: Genesis 28:10-22; Luke 11

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. (Luke 11:1a)

It is such a simple little statement, “…Jesus was in a certain place praying.” It is simple, but it is not unique. The fact that it is not unique is what moves this little statement into a whole other stratosphere. All throughout the Gospels we find Jesus praying. He prayed before big events. He prayed after busy days. He prayed with the disciples and he often went away by himself to pray. Obviously Jesus felt that prayer was one of the essential foundational practices of his life and ministry. 

Jesus knew something that he wanted his disciples to know and that was that prayer is the key to vibrant connectedness to the Father. This is why Christ could boldly claim, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:19) Jesus knew his Father intimately because he spent intimate time with his Father. At the end of his ministry he called his disciples together and taught them that as he was in the Father and the Father was in him so too would the disciples have the ability to be in the Father. Literally to know what the Father is doing so that they too can join in with the Father in His work.

In the Acts of the Apostles we find that the disciples took Jesus’ admonitions to heart and that from the very beginning they were a community of prayer. They knew from their time with Christ that their power came not from the world but from intimacy with Christ and through Christ with the Father.

Do we want to see a mighty movement of God today? Do we want to know the heart of God for our ministries? Do we want to walk with the Father in power and holiness? Then we have to become a people of prayer!

Lord, teach us to pray! Amen.

Surrender

Daily Reading: Genesis 24:12, 26-27; Luke 9

Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your 

selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

Every day as I begin my morning reading I ask the Holy Spirit to speak to me from the passage, to open my heart to hear God’s voice in my life for this day. Usually as I read a passage something will jump out from the page at me that speaks powerfully to my heart. Today, in this chapter, packed full of powerful nuggets I was accosted by verse after verse. I watched Christ send out the 12 to begin to minister to the people and found myself asking if I was living as a faithful missionary to the people. I saw Christ feed the 5,000 people and witnessed how he taught the apostles to look for nourishment in deeper places than the food on hand. 

I listened to Jesus share twice the path which he had to take and saw that the disciples just didn't get it. And I witnessed Peter boldly declaring, “You are the Messiah sent from God!” (Luke 9:20) And, I asked myself, is Jesus still Messiah of your heart?  

Of all the powerful admonitions found in Luke chapter nine (I encourage you to read the whole chapter a couple of times through) there is one that always gets me. I’ve read it so many times and always to the same impact. In Luke 9:23 Jesus says to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”  At one level it is such a clear announcement of the steps of discipleship, the steps of surrender to Christ, but at another deeper part of my being it ignites the war that rages between self-centeredness and surrender. Jesus declares that if I am to follow him that I need to surrender myself, not just once, but daily. He says that my life is not my own, its not all about Jim! There is something far more significant in this world than my own self care, I was created for something beyond myself. 

To take up a cross is literally to commit to walk down the path of death. It is to say, daily, that I am living for something else beyond me. Last week someone came up to me after church and asked if it gets easier to recite the Wesley Covenant Prayer, which is a prayer of complete surrender. I said no. The war rages within, yet I have learned day-after-day that when I surrender, when I take up my cross, this God who feeds 5,000 and who sends out disciples will feed me and use me. When I surrender my needs come into proper perspective and my life continues to experience joy and meaningfulness.  That’s why I, on most days, wake up to recite the Wesley Covenant Prayer and surrender my heart afresh to God for the day which he has laid out before me.

Lord, help me lay it all before you today, and tomorrow, and the day after that…  Amen.  

From Darkness to Light

Daily Reading: Genesis 21:1-7; 22; Luke 8 

“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.” (Luke 8:16-17)

I have to share two light stories with you. The first one happened about ten years ago at an fundraiser dinner we were attending. During the course of the evening there were several drawings and amazingly I won a 1,000,000 candlepower car spotlight. Now I have to admit that I never saw myself as needing a one-million candlepower spotlight, but that evening as we were driving home I pulled out the light, plugged it into the cigarette lighter and turned it on. O my, is it bright!! You could, and still can, blind someone a half a block away with this thing. Over the years I have taken my spotlight out on some of the darkest nights imaginable to look for something and have continually been amazed at how this light can break through darkness and reveal what was hidden in the night.

The other light story happened the first time that I was part of a Tenebrae service. If you are not familiar with a Tenebrae service it is service of shadows where candles are slowly extinguished as the congregation proceeds through the passion story. It is a very dark and somber service. My friend, Brian, who had invited me to his church for this service took it very seriously and so he and a team had spent the entire day darkening the church so that no light could enter. When the last candle was extinguished we sat in the total darkness––so dark that I could not see my hand inches in front of my face. As the service had intended I sat there and contemplated a world without Christ, and my thoughts and my soul were as dark as the air around me. After what seemed like an eternity (in reality only seconds had passed) a chilling voice sang, “Were You There when they crucified my Lord? Were you there?”

As I sat contemplating the song and the image of a world without Christ a  sudden light beamed out of the darkness. In what seemed to be as bright as a new sunrise over the Kansas plains and instantly I felt the assurance of a risen Christ. What was amazing was that the light, which seemed to brighten the room as intensely as my one-million candlepower spotlight was just a small candle. 

I can picture the people of the first century listening to Jesus as they are sitting in room that has just been turned from darkness to light as someone lights a candle. I can also hear the words of John as he says, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1:4-5) The darkness will never extinguish it! What a powerful statement. We can rest assured that the darkness will never have victory over the light. 

Often times I want to keep some issue or problem that is going on in my life hidden in the darkness of my soul. Yet, continually Christ reminds me that it will come into the light eventually, so why wait. Why let Satan torment me over some issue that will never stay hidden? Why not open up to Christ, open up to trusted friends, so that the light can overwhelm the darkness and so that I can be set free?  

Lord, help us to let the light in. Amen

The Mission

[I was unable to post yesterday, so this is yesterdays reading and post]

Daily Reading: Genesis 19:15-16; Psalm 3; Luke 7

“To what can I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. 

“How can I describe them.” (Luke 7:31)

Frantz Fanon, a poet and marxist philosopher, wrote in one of his works a quote that I have often heard repeated, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” While I do not believe in the overall philosophy of Fanon I certainly believe he captured an observable truth of all humanity. We each are called to make a contribution to the world with the resources of our age and this contribution is not for our glory, but for a greater good. 

As a middle aged Christ follower I find myself often asking myself the question, what are they going to say about my generation? How will future generations describe us? Have we been faithful with the resources given to our time to discover our mission and fulfill it, or have we wasted our resources on the meaningless idols of self satisfaction? The mission for the disciple always remains the same and can be summed up in two of the New Testaments great passages; the first being the Great Commandment, 

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)

The second being the Great Commission,

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even 

to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

If I take these two passages to heart than I believe that my generation is mandated to use the resources available to us to, “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” (Mission of the UMC) While the mission remains the same, the resources, challenges and opportunities change with each generation.  Within our community we have unbelievable resources to impact change within the whole of our community. We have time resources, education, life experiences and we have financial resources. 

What will our children and our children’s children say about our generation? Will they call us faithful or will they work to clean up our mess?  

Lord, Help me and my generation live faithfully, with the resources given to us, into our mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world.  Amen.

The Firm Foundation

Daily Reading: Genesis 15; Luke 6

“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show
you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.
It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock.
When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, 
it stands firm because it is well built.
But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house
without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse
into a heap of ruins.” (Luke 6:46-49)

When I was 16 years old I got a job as a cook in a Sirloin Stockade Steak House. I arrived the first day for work and found that the cook who was suppose to train me had quit only minutes before my arrival. The manager spent about ten minutes showing me how to cook steaks on the indoor grill and left me to do my new job. Within less than an hour the restaurant was full and I was completely overwhelmed. I had not been prepared for the job that I was suppose to do. I didn’t know which steak was which, so people who had ordered an ribeye might have received a filet. I undercooked steaks and I overcooked steaks. I must have wasted hundreds of dollars worth of steak that evening, it was pitiful! That night the floods of life had swept in and my house had come crashing down! But, I learned a vital lesson about foundations that evening.

I had entered that job with desire, a good attitude and a commitment of loyalty, but without the proper training it was impossible for me to do the job the way it needed to be done. I simply did not have the proper foundation for the expectations of the job before me.

In over twenty-two years of ministry I have been confronted more times than I can count with people who have authentically come to Jesus and have surrendered their lives as disciples of Christ, yet seem to evidence no real change in their lives. They entered the faith with desire, and attitude, but they never developed the foundation of the faith. They never grow from being babies in the faith.

As I have gotten to know many of these people I have discovered that in almost every circumstance one of two things has prevented this church baby from growing into a healthy active adult. Either they have never studied the bible, so do not have the capacity of knowing the teaching of Christ, or they have studied the bible, but never lived out what they have learned. Read the passage above again. Jesus is clear that his followers know his teachings and that they obey them. You can’t just come to church on Sunday and expect to grow to be a disciple of Christ. The foundation of the christian life is knowing Christ and knowing Christ is chiefly accomplished by the consistent and systematic study of scripture.

Just as not knowing the Bible prevents a person from living it out. There is another group of church people who study the bible all the time. They read the book. They are in small group studies. They can argue this point and that with great capacity, yet they never apply anything of what they learn. Nothing is changed from the wisdom that has entered into their brain. 

Jesus says that the person who listen’s to what he says and then follows it is like a house built on a solid foundation for it will remain firm and strong in all of life's trials. He is using this wonderful illustration to let us know that the foundation of our faith is going to be built on knowing Christ and following Christ. There are other things that come in our growth as disciples; prayer, service, giving, participating in worship and communion, but I believe the foundation comes from growing in the Word and living out what we learn.

Lord, help us to be students who work diligently to know you and to follow you. Amen.