faith

New Beginnings

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A few years ago, I told my friend who was the Groups Minister at The Church at Avenue South at the time that whenever he took his first job as senior pastor at a church and preached his first sermon there, I wanted to be there.

Today, I fulfilled that promise. He was called to be the campus pastor at The Church at Woodbine, so I was there as I said I would be. It was actually an honor to support my friend, plus I got to see what God is up to in the Woodbine area of Nashville.

During the prayer time, I prayed for that church that they’d grow beyond the capacity of their current building. I also prayed that they’d become a church that looks like heaven with every tribe, tongue, nation, ethnicity, language, and race represented.

I know that was a bold prayer, but I know that God is able. I believe God put that prayer in my heart because I know I’m not wise or brave enough on my own to think of a prayer like that. I know greater things are still to come in Woodbine just as they are in the Berry Hill area where Ave South is located.

The point of all this is that is good to support your friends in new ventures. It’s good to keep promises, even if it means driving a little outside of your comfort zone. Also, I believe it’s good to pray big bold prayers. I think God honors those. I’d rather pray big and not see it come to pass than to not pray at all and alway wonder what could have been had I been braver.

I still believe God’s about to do some amazing things in the Greater Nashville area and I’m praying for revival for Middle Tennessee and the nation. I hope you’ll do the same for your area and for the nation as well.

Holding on to the Gospel

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“Too many times we give away the one thing the world needs from us to secure the shallow security of ‘fitting in'” (Mike Glenn).

“One of the most striking evidences of sinful human nature lies in the universal propensity for downward drift.

 In other words, it takes thought, resolve, energy, and effort to bring about reform.

In the grace of God, sometimes human beings display such virtues. But where such virtues are absent, the drift is invariably toward compromise, comfort, indiscipline, sliding disobedience and decay that advances, sometimes at a crawl and sometimes at a gallop, across generations.

People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.

We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance;

we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom;

we drift toward superstition and call it faith.

We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation;

we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism;

we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated” (Don Carson, For the Love of God, p. 23).

I remember in ye olden days when I first heard the plan of salvation. I can’t remember the exact details, but it involved a loving God, sin separating me from God, Jesus shedding His blood on a cross to make a way for me to be right with God, and eternal life that comes from salvation.

Now a lot of churches are preaching a gospel of “I’m okay, you’re okay, there’s no sin or need of salvation.” There’s no such thing as hell and God accepts everyone, regardless of lifestyle choices or addictive behavior. Churches are bending over backward to accommodate a culture we’re supposed to be trying to reach for Jesus. We’re blending in when we should be standing out, as I’ve heard it said.

We’ve traded in the gospel that is the power of salvation for something that has the form of godliness but without any actual power to do anything other than make people comfortable in their sin. The Apostle Paul would call such a gospel false and would say that anyone who preaches such a gospel, even an angel from heaven, is anathema or cursed.

The point was never to fit in. We’ll never fit in. Eventually, we’ll look and sound so much like the world that we’ll be unrecognizable as a church and cease to have any anointing or authority. When churches host pride events or have nights that celebrate people like Beyonce instead of Jesus, they have stopped being churches.

I think nothing short of revival will do. Nothing short of a supernatural movement of God in American churches will stop the drift away from true and orthodox faith. But God is still able. All we need to do is humble ourselves and pray.

Fear

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“It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean” (Khalil Gibran).

I’ve learned over the years that all fear is just looking at the future and seeing the mountain but not the Mountain Mover. It’s seeing the stormy waves but not seeing the One who walks on water. It’s basically looking at life’s problems and eliminating God from the equation.

I’ve also learned that 98% of what I worry about never happens. That dreaded scenario never takes place. I find that when I get to the place where my fear is greatest . . . and take one more step, that’s when God’s strength shows up in my weakness. God’s faithfulness shows up in my obedience, regardless of whether my motives are wholly pure or not.

“Jesus Christ is like a vast ocean, He is too immense to fully explore, and too rich to fathom. You are like a bottle. The wonder of the gospel is that the bottle is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the bottle” (Jesus Manifesto, Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola).

Refiner’s Fire

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“There was once a group of women studying the book of Malachi in the Old Testament. As they were studying chapter three, they came across verse three, which says: ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ This verse puzzled the women, and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study.

That week this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot – then she thought again about the verse, that he sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered “Yes”, and explained that he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be damaged.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’

He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy. When I see my image in it.’

If today you are feeling the heat of this world’s fire, just remember that God has His eyes on you” (Anne Kephart).

Let that sink in. The refining process is complete when the maker can see his image in what is being refined. The end result is worth the pain.

Ready for Spooky Season

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The way I look at it, Tennessee has four seasons. I’m not talking about winter, spring, summer, and fall. I’ve come up with my own names for these seasons to help me cope with the one I’m currently stuck in.

Winter is snowy season.

Spring is sneezy season.

Summer is sweaty season.

Fall is spooky season.

No, those aren’t four of the seven dwarves who hung out with Snow White. Those are my experience of each of the seasons.

I guess you’ve figured out which is my favorite.

Winter is alright for a couple of weeks and is pretty when there’s snow. Plus, it technically has Christmas, although winter doesn’t normally hit Tennessee until mid-January.

Spring is when my sinuses explode and my allergies go haywire. It does have the benefit of seeing everything bloom and blossom and turn green, but also, all the bugs wake up and start terrorizing humanity.

Summer is also nice for a few weeks until the heat and humidity kick in. If it were just hot, I could handle it. It’s the humidity that makes my hair explode and also makes me feel like I’m constantly walking around in a sauna.

Fall is the best. All the good holidays are there. All the bugs have gone back to hell where they belong. All the leaves turn all the colors, and I can finally breathe normally again. Plus, I get to wear flannel.

So, while I’m doing my best to enjoy sweaty season, I’m letting you know that I’ll be ready for spooky season when it gets here.

PS I didn’t invent the term spooky season. I can’t claim it as my own, even though I really want to.

Caring for the Elderly

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“To care for the elderly means then that we allow the elderly to make us poor by inviting us to give up the illusion that we created our own life and that nothing or nobody can take it away from us. This poverty, which is an inner detachment, can make us free to receive the old stranger into our lives and make that person into a most intimate friend.

When care has made us poor by detaching us from the illusion of immortality, we can really become present to the elderly. We can then listen to what they say without worrying about how we can answer. We can pay attention to what they have to offer without being concerned about what we can give. We can see what they are in themselves without wondering what we can be for them. When we have emptied ourselves of false occupations and preoccupations, we can offer free space to old strangers, where not only bread and wine but also the story of life can be shared” (Henri Nouwen).

I think I remember reading about different cultures in the past where two or three generations of the same family lived under one roof, and when one got older, the family would take care of that person. I understand that times have changed. I also understand that we live in a very modern Western society where we have facilities for caring for those who can no longer care for themselves.

This is not bashing those institutions or those who place their aging loved ones in such places. This is about how there is a kind of joy that comes from taking care of the elderly. They have so much wisdom from having lived so long. They have stories and pictures and memories to share.

I’d give anything right now to have at least one of my grandparents alive again to be able to listen to them talk for as long as they wanted, to look at old photo albums, listen to old music. I’d even take hearing the same stories told again and again.

This society doesn’t value age very much. We tend to glamorize youth and desperately seek ways to prolong looking and acting young rather than to teach about how blessed it is to grow old gracefully and embrace each stage of your life.

I’m 52, and as much as I want to think I’m still in my 20s, my body reminds me that I’m not. My brain may think I can stay up until 2 am and be okay the next morning, but the rest of me is like, “Are you kidding me right now?”

My church advocates for mentoring between young adults and older adults. I can think of no better way to gain wisdom than from someone who has a lifetime of learning by trial and error and from knowledge and understanding passed down through generations. Hopefully, I can be of value to the next generations as the older generations have been to me.

The best way to learn to love and follow Jesus is to spend time with those who have loved and followed Jesus for a lifetime. My pastor talks about how his love of the Bible and prayer came from watching his own father spend time in the Word preparing for and praying over Sunday School lessons.

That’s not a bad idea.

In the Waiting

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I’ve never thought about it that way before. I suppose it could be a bit of a stretch to make a connection between waiting on God and working at a restaurant, but it works. When you wait tables at a restaurant, you wait for people to make up their minds on the menu. You wait on the kitchen to prepare the food for you to take to the tables. You wait on the people to finish their meals before you present them with the check.

But it’s not a passive waiting. The whole time, you’re serving. You’re bringing baskets of bread and drink refills. You’re always available to take food back to the kitchen if it’s not cooked right or if it’s the wrong order. You’re never sitting still while you’re waiting.

I think the same applies for waiting on God. Typically, God has revealed something to you that you then need to apply. In Hebrew, hearing and obeying come from the same word. In other words, you can’t hear from God apart from doing what He said. Part of waiting is obedience.

I think part of waiting is also making yourself ready to be used the moment God calls for you. That means you don’t have distractions or detours to keep you from responding to God’s call. As I mentioned before, maturity is the distance between God’s call and your ability to obey. Waiting is where you narrow that gap.

May we learn to wait well. May we learn to worship in the waiting as loudly as after the waiting is over, to sing the same way in the hallway as when we get to where God opens the door to the fulfillment of His promises. Then the waiting will have been worth it.

Summer Solstice

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“And with the spring comes the thaw
Melting my heart reviving all
It comes full circle and then
It’s summer solstice again” (Wayne Kirkpatrick).

I could have sworn that summer started tomorrow. It seems like June 21 is always the longest day of the year and the official start to summer (although the weather has been jumping the gun a bit lately with the heat and the humidity).

It’s always interesting to me that this particular summer equinox falls almost but not quite at the halfway point of the year. I’ve mentioned it before, but summer used to be my favorite season as a kid. Mainly that was because there was no school and basically no responsibilities for two months.

Now that I’m a fully mature adult (mostly), summer is basically just like every other season but with more sweating. I tend to be less and less a fan of super hot weather as I get older. I’m growing to love fall more and more.

But I appreciate that each season has its place. God made winter, spring, summer, and fall each with a purpose in the cycle of life. Each season has its own set of holidays (though fall has the best, even if you don’t count Christmas that technically falls in winter). After all, most of Advent season is in the fall.

Seasons remind us of the faithfulness of God. Just as summer follows spring, so will the promises of God come to pass. It will not always be summer or fall or winter, and you and I will not always be stuck in our own current season, whatever that may be. One season prepares us for the next.

So long as my air conditioning stays strong, I can survive this summer. Hopefully, I can take a few lessons with me into the fall season.

Mountain Mover

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It’s easy to be intimidated and discouraged by the size of the mountain, isn’t it? Real mountains can be a pain, but those metaphorical mountains can seem impossible to overcome.

I was reading recently about Mount Everest and all those who have attempted the climb and died in the effort. They thought they were smart enough, strong enough, tough enough, etc., but the mountain proved to be too much.

Some obstacles in your life can seem like that. When you look ahead, all you can see is that mountain in the way. There’s no way around it or under it or over it. The thought of climbing it fills your heart with dread and fear.

But remember that every mountain has a maker. Jesus said that if we had enough faith, we could say to the mountain, be cast into the sea and it would obey. Basically, Jesus said that it’s not big faith that gets past the mountain but faith in a big God.

So don’t look at the mountain, but cast your eyes on the One who can move that mountain. Talk to the One who has already overcome all of death, hell, and the grave. What is it that you’re facing that is stronger than what Jesus has already overcome?

Mountains are scary, but remember that the taller the mountain, the better the testimony at the end.

Christian Maturity

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“Christian maturity is the distance between God’s call and your capacity for obedience” (from the Growing Deeper class this morning).

I’m reminded of something my pastor once said during a sermon. He stated that you can’t wait until you confirm the call of God on your life to start getting reading. You have to be ready. You have to develop a life of disciplines before God calls you.

I believe that maturity look a lot like leaning on the Lord. It’s a declaration of dependence that acknowledges the words of Jesus in John 15:5: “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

I can’t expect to recognize the voice of God if I never spend time with Him. If I rush through my prayers and Bible reading, how can I learn to discern when the Shepherd is speaking? If my prayer life is spiritual version of my Amazon wish list, I leave no room for God to respond.

Sometimes, I think the best prayers are ones where I’m silent in the presence of God, not bringing any petitions or requests or even thanksgiving, but simply sitting at the feet of Jesus for as long as it takes to come to a place of calm where I can hear Him speaking. Sadly, I’m often too busy or impatient to wait that long.

I’m also learning that it’s better to read less Bible and ruminate on it more. I tend to speed read for information instead of prayerfully meditating on what I read and turning it into a prayer. Also, it’s easy to leave the words on the page and not put them into action. Then nothing changes.

But thankfully God is more patient than I am. He still speaks when I’m less inclined to listen. He has more time for me than I have for Him. And I believe He’s making me more like Him even on those days when I don’t act very much like Him.

Lord, speak to me and all your servants, for we are listening.