Mere Faith

Rated R Movies

2010-01-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

I wrote the response below to an email by a new member of the on-line Wild at Heart yahoo group.

God exists in paradox. He is all the way East and all the way West all at once. There is no sin in Him yet He created a being that fell and authored sin. He is everywhere, all the time, and yet Adam and Eve are seemingly strolling alone in the Garden when tempted by Satan. There was a time when believing the earth wasn't the center of the universe meant the church had to torture you, now its ridiculous to believe otherwise.

We do need to cling to gospel truth in the face of any opposition but what I often see people cling to is their own interpretations of things. If we simply live in relationship with God and let Him reveal Himself we will find ourselves abiding in a state of dependency and wonder, where the supernatural is natural. If we insist on keeping God in a box that we can get our minds around we will limit our understanding of God and thereby limit our ability to transform into His image.

I know it pains many Christians to hear me say this but I'm more often offended by what I hear from the pulpit than what I hear in a rated R movie. We expect the movie to be tainted by Hollywood's infantile understanding of God, and it actually stands out when they get it right. We are not on guard in church, when the word from on high is pronounced upon us. In fact its not the least bit conducive to independent thought. We sit there as preachers slander God with wrong ideas about His wrath, and what it means to fear the Lord, or just their complete faith in sin avoidance strategies. Can there be anything more hypocritical than a passive, panti-waste behind a pulpit telling me to be a nice guy with one breath and with the next telling me how much God hates gays. It's no wonder gays think anyone who disapproves of their life-style is afraid he is one himself. But that's a topic for a different email.

I actually only disagree with maybe 1 in 10 services I attend and even as I sit there fuming about something I can't stand I know that someone in that audience is being mightily blessed because they are seeing something God has for them. My focus gets distracted and I'm not open to hearing God's blessing, because I've been distracted by the parts of it that offend me. If we are in tune with God, Christ filters our world and we can see anything and not be affected by it. The degree to which we get distracted by the thorns and don't see the rose is the degree to which we are looking through our own eyes and not God's.

In other words I do agree with the extra-biblical statement, "garbage in-garbage out," but I also believe in Christ's words, "it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but what comes out."

Present Future

2010-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

This is a concept that took me ages to come to peace with. Now I'm a major proponent of the idea. Being present future focused doesn't mean the past doesn't exist. But frankly the past is of far less benefit to us than the present.

The best thing the past can do for us, whether our own personal history or that of entire cultures, is teach us lesson about the outcomes of certain actions or attitudes. That sounds pretty good, but the problem is that so many of those lessons are wrong. We often think we've learned from the past when we are actually drawing conclusions from our experience with the event at the time it happened. It's one thing to journal your life events and then examine them awhile later, put them in perspective, and draw a lesson from it. But what most of us do is leap to a conclusion about the outcome of our actions very quickly after implementing them. Which is essentially living in yesterday's present. We end up being guided by fear of repeating actions who's outcomes were painful even if those actions were ultimately beneficial.

The worst thing about holding onto the past is our tendency to compare today with the time when things were better. It's not a fair comparison, and it won't make you feel any better about today. If you were making different choices and life was better than yes you might glean something of value, but you could access the same information by prayer. Just ask God why you are unhappy and you'll get the right answer even if you never were happy.

As long as we remember that we can only predict 30% to 50% of the outcomes for our actions we are safe to look forward to the future with anticipation of something good happening.

The present is the only thing we can even hope to control. While control is a worthy goal its not good to really strive for. We never have full control and if we got it, we'd be miserable.

Most of us are pretty comfortable with the idea that we change our future by the decisions we make today. It's a bit harder to swallow the idea that we change our past with the decisions we make today. But I believe, with all my heart that it is true. If our today is an unconscious amalgam of yesterdays decisions we are doomed to repeat our actions even if we fear the results. If I'm right the decisions we make today can undo the results of yesterdays decisions on our soul and spirit, thereby wiping away most of the record of yesterdays decision.

Now if you've been eating unhealthy for a long time, eating healthy won't make you thin by the end of today, but if you're willing to make better choices each day you can eventually reverse most of the physical effects of your bad choices as well, yes. The same goes for injuries we've dealt to other people. Better choices today may eventually repair a relationship with someone. If it doesn't you will still be able to effect new friendships in the future. I know a lot of people who don't make new friends because past friendships didn't go well. Deciding who you are today, instead of unconsciously letting your past decide for you can change who you are.

Now one caveat: counseling will take you into the past, but you should be looking to reinterpret the past from an older, safer place. If its making you live from the past its not helping you.

Also: Deciding to take chances just because you are a new person isn't always wise. There's a difference between not living from your unprocessed past and deciding to forgo boundaries or contemplating your decisions.

Personal Space

2010-01-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

I was ruminating this afternoon, on the topic of Personal Space. A friend and I were speaking the other day and he mentioned a verse in Psalms that directs believers to greet each other with holy kisses. He said, quite tongue in cheek, "I'm sorry but I'm not going to kiss anyone in my church but my wife and kids." I laughed because I had seen some of the people he went to church with.

At the same moment I realized that my pastor always ends his services by telling everyone, "there's an offering plate somewhere in the back if you feel like giving. Greet each other with holy kisses and hugs before you leave."

The connotation was so different I didn't recognize that it was the same verse being referenced. To be honest I didn't even know my pastor was quoting a scripture. That's got something to do with it. It's so natural when my pastor says it, but when you view it as an average evangelical American--like my friend and I were--it's a strange request.

Personal space, or proximics, is always a cultural thing. I'm told that the French regard the outside of your clothes as the boundary of your being, where Arabs and Asians view the outside of your body as public property and we Americans like a few feet of imaginary bubble around us.

If you haven't yet seen , "Whale Rider," its a great movie. There's a scene in it where two Maori men, a father and son, embrace and rub noses in greeting. The actors are Maori and I dare say American actors couldn't pull it off. It's too intimate without being romantic. Two big burly guys might hug and look fairly natural, but to take each others faces in their hands and pull there noses together?

Well it all got me thinking. I saw a news feature a few weeks ago about how swine flew was impacting churches. Several Portland area churches had stopped directing there members to shake hands. Some had gone to "air fives," and others to a ridiculous "fellowship elbow bump."

One must wonder if the God who restored sight to the blind and made the lame to walk, might also protect his followers from the flue if they were to embrace each other in accordance with a scriptural directive.

Just wondering. Either way, what does our proximics say about our Christian culture?

Way of the Warrior

2010-01-14T11:53:00.000-08:00

This is going to be valuable research for my Thadi CAB project. I share it in advance that anyone who follows my non-fiction can experience the process for themselves.

The Beginning of Wisdom

2009-12-13T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.

What are we to do with that? I mean really. I spent much of my life terrified of an angry God, or rebelling against Him on the grounds that exercising my free choice meant loosing salvation.

I didn't make any headway in my faith walk until I began to accept that God loved me. That He viewed my darkest sins the way a father views a toddler learning how to walk. In fact the only blessing I've been able to impart to other Christians came from sharing this radical revelation with them.

So what am I to do with this troublesome verse about fearing God? Or any of the other verses about it? It's not like the theme only comes up once.

Well, God shared this much with me. While yet in sin, we desperately hunger for the presence of God in our lives while at the same time fearing the design God had in mind for us.

When we accept Christ into our hearts we instantly feel that missing piece of ourselves rejoined. Now of course that first love stage begins to fade, mainly because we try to earn what was freely given to us, or we make it about following biblical rules.

But regardless, the problem is fixed whether we choose to live from that reality or while away our time with guilt.We do forget about the second need though. We forget about that base fear of the design of God in ourselves. What we do is stop looking at God to see who He is, and start start accepting some biblical description that is
filtered through our own understanding.

Our perspective is flawed though. We come up with this view of God that is really an idealized version of ourselves, and since we don't like ourselves is it any wonder that we can't imagine God liking us? Plus, how could anyone who doesn't have the flaws I hate about me be cool with me--when I've still got the flaws?

In short, our opinion of God is poisoned by our self loathing and we won't conquer one problem until we deal with the other. We can't treat sinful low self esteem without also addressing our image of God and vise versa.

It only makes sense when you realize that we are made in God's image. How can we believe better things about God if we can't imagine a better us?

It's that wildness of God we fear. The piece that doesn't fit in the box we have for God. But try as we might God is wild and the closer we draw to Him the more obvious it becomes. We desperately crave to know God intimatelyand be known by God but if we only embrace a view of ourselves that involves our fallen nature we will continue
tell God who He can or can't be.

So the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of our embracing the wildness He intended for us. The first part of fearing God is letting Him be something beyond our own reason and being willing to accept that the perfection He conceived us in means we reflect that wildness.

Church: A noun thing.

2009-10-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Repost from http://yochananpayne.wordpress.com/

Church

Person, Place, or Thing.

This past week I had two separate conversations about this thing called church. One with a coworker here in Arizona. The other with a friend who lives in the Middle East. The conversation with my coworker was about church, him possibly attending and what church is. This coworker stated “There are so many ones to choose from and they’re all different, how can you know it’s the right one? That the one you attend is teaching the right thing?”
It got me thinking about the church I partner with as well as my co-worker and so many others. We are in a Western Culture with a Western Mindset, where the church is a place we go, place we spend an hour a week, a place where you just check your God box and then go about your business. For us in the West, the church has become a building, a denomination, ours verses yours. First Baptist, Presbyterian, Phoenix First Assembly, Healing Place, LifeChurch.TV, even NewSpring Church. Is that all church is? A Place?

In talking with my friend in the Middle East I got a different perspective. We discussed ‘church’ and in his perspective we are heroes. He was brought up where church isn’t a place but a thing. A place where church isn’t welcomed with opened arms. It’s not that they don’t congregate in one place, it’s that people in his country view church as a thing, a movement that sprouted from the West. Where its soul purpose is to dominate and reign. A movement that attempts to infiltrate government. A movement that attempts to cause division within families by setting one family member against another. It’s a mindset of church being a movement that causes so many to reject it’s principles. Personally, when I read scripture, and I read about what church is intended to be I don’t see it as a place, its not described that way, nor as a movement, its not described that way either.

I see church as a people. In fact when you see church in scripture, the Greek word used is Ecclesia, it simply means called out ones, not called into, not called for. But simply called out. See, the scriptures say the church is a people that sometimes congregate together for fellowship, to lift each other up as a community of believers, a people that can create change in government, in family, but not by their own movement, but by the spirit of God. To live as a fully devoted follower of Christ.

I submit to you that the church wasn’t created for us, but as followers of Jesus we are the church created for the world, not as a place, not as a thing, but as a people. A people that doesn’t seek their own agenda, but instead the agenda of God. His purpose, His will, His passion, His desire. I believe the church according to scripture is depicted as the bride of Christ.
Now if the church was simply a place then admittingly it would seem as if she were riddled with bipolar multiple personality disorder schizophrenia. Is that the bride that the very son of God is looking to wed?
Now if the church is simply a movement then would Jesus be wanting a bride that shifts her option at her whim, as she sees fit, no matter others perspective, feelings or thoughts. Would He want a runaway bride? Would you?

Now if the church were a people that came together with one mind, in one accord, fully devoted to Christ in passionate Love, with nothing around them but Him. A people that not only believed, but knew that He knows them intimately, all their past, all their present, their passion, their desire, their hopes and hurts. That He knows how many times they have fallen short and how many times He has forgiven them completely. A people set apart to be His Ecclesia, to be the bride of Christ.

So for me the church…. Person? Place? Thing?
YES! A people called out, set apart that at times come together in a place whether that place be called LifeChurch East Valley, Chase Field, or Phoenix International Raceway. A people called out, for a movement, not of their own design nor desire, but one initiated and motivated by God, for God, through God. To create the radiant Bride of Christ.
Person, Place, or Thing. Share your thoughts. You have mine.

Regarding Giving and Receiving

2009-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me if the economy had impacted my giving, or if I felt there was a message from God in the current economy. This is a copy of my response.

I actually think our attitude towards giving and receiving needs a major overhaul. I'm not suggesting that we be ungrateful to God or that we don't get a blessing when we hear about the things God does for others, but I am suggesting that sometimes our surprise at God's generosity is bordering on offensive.

As Micheal Pink puts it:
When I tell my wife that I’m depositing funds into the household
account, she doesn’t hold her breath hoping against hope that I will
follow through, nor does she call all our friends with giddy excitement
when I follow through on my promise. She knows and trusts me. But with
God, we act surprised like we just won the lottery when He provides
abundantly for a pressing need, precisely because we don’t know Him
very well, nor do we fully trust Him. After all, His ways are higher
than our ways or some such excuse. Consider this…

I do agree that we must give more when things are bad. It's the old story about stone soup which I won't repeat because we've all heard it thousands of times. But the point is true enough and echoed in Christ's own words when he said, he would save his life shall loose it and he who would loose his life for my sake shall have eternal life. Christ also said that he came to give us abundant life, or life to the full. So I don't think that Christ is saying, martyr yourself and you'll gain heaven. I think He's saying the tighter you cling to the things you think you have the more it slips through your fingers, but the more you look to me and set aside worrying about the physical world around you the more abundance I'll heap on you.

We can always spare a dime no matter who we are, but some people have lots of money to give away. Others of us may have something else which God has blessed us to give away: love, understanding, companionship, trust, respect, encouragement, kindness, patience, or even humor. Whatever it is that God shines on you is yours to reflect into the world. If God has healed you of something, run out and lay hands on others. Not because you are surprised by the miracle, but because you will never run out of healing as long as you give it away. That's not how the world works, but its virtually a law with God. When he gives you money, give some away. When He is patient with you give that away too.

It's our unwillingness to give away what God blesses us with, especially concerning love and grace, which keeps the pews empty week after week. The world is dieing to get what we have and we have despised them for it.

A. R. Bunch

Socialism vs Church

2009-09-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

The rise of socialism in America today is a direct result of the churches failure to remain relevant, not its failure to express its disapproval. Anyone who is a part of a grace-based community will be repulsed by an institutionalized response to human need.

There is little difference between the modern religious charity and the government program in that neither one require relationship or change of heart for either the giver or receiver.

For too long morally upright Christians with a passion for leadership have shunned politics, and now the reverse over-response is a movement to impose Christian values on the populous. Instead of relationship, counseling, miraculous healing, and deliverance the church offers program, service, obligation and theological debate.

True Restoration:

2009-09-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

Janice asked me a long time ago to translate one of her books, "Reality Exercises to Develop the Inner Man," into language more engaging to the masculine heart. I have been eager lately to get back into the project, and its been going great.

So far I've uncovered a number of verses that support what we've often talked about as a Reality for us Christ followers. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. For a few weeks now, God has been saying to me, "I'm responsible for sanctification." I didn't know if this was a message to me, or for me to publish among people I know, or both. So now I'm reading Janice's verses, which are pretty common encouragement verses, and looking them up in context and in several translations, (so that I can state them from a man's heart.) Several of these verses, which are commonly truncated to mean God is on your side, are actually very out of context. Not that they aren't saying what people use them to mean, but that in context they rock even more.

I guess I'm trying to say that, if you are speaking to a "newb" Christian you might use them as they are commonly used but in context they are so much meatier. And its that meat which supports everything God has been laying on my heart. Here's one example:

Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him..."
Romans 8:31 says "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
1 Thessalonians 5:24 says "The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."

However, Romans 8:28-39 says "28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[c] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[d] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Emphasis added by me)

Now Combine it with 1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24 really says, (NASB) 23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

Maybe this is obvious and you guys have always read it this way, but to me this clearly says that God is taking responsibility for both our salvation and our sanctification. He is also promising to complete us (here and now) and preserve us unto the second coming of Christ. In other words 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is saying God will sanctify us so that we may be blameless when Christ returns, not one day we'll be blameless after Christ returns.

Now what is calling in reference to in verse 24? At the least it refers to God calling us out of sin, but isn't that also calling us into light. The writer here is blessing this church by saying may the God who called you bring it about. That means finish it, right? If He already called them but He's going to bring it to pass that means finish it, right? So John, at least, is presuming that God has saved us and he is faithful to complete it. I know other verses say just that, but this clearly says he is preserving our salvation and is sanctifying us.

Back to Romans 8, if we eliminate the "who can condemn you" theme, for which we know the answer, we are left with Paul's assumption that God is going to sanctify us. Romans 8:28, again the word calling. But what if we also eliminate the whole "predestination" theme for a second, because what they are predestined to is conformity to the likeness of His Son. In other words we were made in God's image, right? I think Paul is saying, before God made the world He designed us to be like Christ and that's what he's called us back to when He gave us Christ as our savior.

I know we've talked about this being true, and I knew there were verses somewhere to support the notion, but I didn't expect to find them as the context around verses we've turned into evangelical platitudes. Roman's 8:30 "Those He Justified, He also glorified." BOOM! You can't beat that. No can defend.

But it picks up the theme again in verse 32, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also...graciously give us all things? ...(35) Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." This clearly states (to me) that If God gave his only son for our salvation, then he wouldn't deny us the sanctification in his resurrection, or the authority of His ascension to the thrown. Bang! Its all right here.

It's all right there in one neat little package. I don't care how legalistic you are. Paul and John agree that Christianity isn't just guilt and graveling for forgiveness. It's the full inheritance of Christ--restoration to the glory God intended for each of us when he dreamed of us before He spoke the world into existence.

That's why men hate church. The act of contrition feels like a place we might need to go, but not a place we want to live in. Until Christians are willing to let Christianity be about more than just feeling bad for sin, it will never be appealing to men. It's not a man's fault that a message of guilt doesn't excite his heart. What men crave, what Christ REALLY offers is an answer to the question his heart has been asking him his whole life, "who am I really, and do I have what it takes."

When Christian's let sanctification be a gift too, men will join the church. Until then you are powerless to reach the stronger sex.

Christian vs Christ Follower

2009-09-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

I love this video!

We should get on with it.

2009-08-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a good shot in the arm from my friend Mike Pink.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Phil 1:6)

I thank God that we are no surprise to Him today. He knew what He was getting when He formed us, called us, and ordained us for good works prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10) He knew we would not walk perfectly before Him despite our promises to the contrary. He knew exactly what He was getting when He chose us. We need to get on with it.

We tend to live such a performance oriented acceptance paradigm that makes us feel we have to earn His blessings and favor. That somehow if we kicked the dog, argued with our spouse or otherwise fell short of the mark, we would not receive His blessings. What tends to happen when we blow it is that our heart condemns us (1 John 3:20-21) and we deny ourselves the privileges God has provided. It’s not that God is holding back on us. We hold back on ourselves because we count ourselves unworthy.

To which of the people Jesus healed did He first require some proof of performance? Some proof of worthiness? Do you think the thousands of people He healed in those three and a half years were all spiritually mature and walking out their lives in an unblemished way? Of course not.

Psalm 118

2009-06-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Psalm 118

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

2 Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."

3 Let the house of Aaron say:
"His love endures forever."

4 Let those who fear the LORD say:
"His love endures forever."

5 In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.

6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they died out as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.

14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.

15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
"The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!

16 The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

18 The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

20 This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.

21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.

22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;

23 the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

25 O LORD, save us;
O LORD, grant us success.

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you. [a]

27 The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up [b] to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Time and Chance: Part B

2009-06-04T01:11:00.001-07:00

Well here is where I think I was going with part A.

When Ami and I got together, I planned on taking my time. I knew she was fresh out of a marriage, and we even talked about her taking a year at least before she dated anyone. But I followed my heart and over-ruled conventional wisdom. I knew from God that I was authorized to pursue her and that I was ready. I didn't know at the time that it wasn't a guarantee of success, but live and learn.

About three quarters of my friends went out of their way to tell me I was a fool. When it didn't work out they all lined up to say I told you so. The fact is it doesn't matter. What people don't understand is time and chance.

Sure I spent some time moping over my broken heart. I was angry at God for leading me up another dead end. But after spending a month in prayer and fasting (mostly prayer) the conclusion I've come to is that I would do it all over again. This is a crazy world of uncertainty. We shouldn't make a practice of setting aside our wisdom, but given a choice between following the desire God put in my heart and conforming to conventional wisdom I'll have to pick my heart every time.

Especially when the potential reward is so great. Ami is amazing. I got to fall in love with a beautiful woman and her three daughters. I refuse to regret that. I won't walk away from this with an agreement to be timid. I'm days away from 38 and I'm still single--I need to leap more, not less. I seized a time: I took a chance. I won't shortcut this journey to shorten my pain.

I want to heal from this, but I want it to leave a scar. I don't abhor my scars, I'm proud of them. They are monuments to my adventure in Christ. I know that God did something for Ami through our relationship I believe he will bless me in it as well, but even if He doesn't, I'm ok with that. I'm his to use and I will not back down from these types of tough decisions. I will not run from a course of action I feel called to just because it's risky. The race is not always to the swift.

Here's what I think the Lord is Blessing me with. Now I know I can survive a failed relationship. One man may loose his fortune and when he gains it back, he'll vow never to put it at risk again. Another man may loose his fortune, and upon gaining it back, he'll risk it whenever he chooses because he knows he can do it all again if he needs to.

I treasure my heart, but I have lost the fear of heart break. I'm now free to love without reservation, because in Christ I'm bigger than even a shattered heart.

Time and Chance

2009-06-03T21:52:00.001-07:00

The Lord seems to be speaking to me about time and chance. Mike Pink has been doing a serious of blogs about it, which I've enjoyed, but I've also been running into it as a theme everywhere.

I'll insert a blog post at the end, and I want to link to a couple TED talks that are awesome and speak to the topic, but I'll try to get some of my own thoughts out first.

I think this is one area that Christians really struggle with. We have the bible and we can read most of it for ourselves pretty effectively, but we tend to get a lot of help with reading it--both on the parts that we wouldn't understand without an expert and perhaps on the parts that we could have gotten for ourselves. We can call the collection of assisted interpretations incidental dogma. It's the kind of predisposition with which we read the bible that prevents a truly fresh reading. BUT there is remarkably little accurate dogma, whether incidental or deliberate, on the topic of Time and Chance.

Consider the children of Israel charging across the desert, having to wonder around for decades and finally entering the promised land where they are to kill EVERYTHING. And here is this Rehab lady who saves the spies, gets spared, and is in the bloodline of Christ. Think about that for a second. I mean there has got to be someone out there who's meshed this story with Ester saying "for such a time as this," and Jesus saying even the wicked serve the Lord. Someone has to have formulated an official statement, perhaps a crazy one, regarding how Time and Chance relate to an all knowing, all powerful, and eternal God.

I mean sure it might be one of the great mysteries we'll never understand, but that's never stopped us before. I've never really encountered a good opinion on this. I don't know what yet, but I know there is something there to be revealed.

From Mike Pink's Blog:
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding…; but time and chance happens to them all.” Ecclesiastes 9:11

“Now therefore let Pharaoh seek out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt… And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Since God has showed you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are… And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Gen 41

Here is Solomon telling us that men of understanding don’t necessarily end up with riches. He wants you and I to know there is a game changer that dramatically alter the outcomes in life: Time and chance.

Consider Joseph. The first time in the bible the word “biyn” (translated as “understanding” in Ecclesiastes 9:11) is used is in Gen 41 where it is translated as “discreet” when describing the wisdom Joseph had. Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph’s understanding of his dreams and wisdom to know what to do, that he promoted Joseph and put him over all the land of Egypt.

But it wasn’t his understanding or wisdom that got him the job. While he wouldn’t have gotten the promotion without having great wisdom and understanding, it was “time and chance” that put him in position to be brought before Pharaoh. Time and chance were the big game changers here. And by the way, not all the “chance” occurrences leading up to that moment were particularly delightful.

Joseph was sold to a band of Ishmaelites who happened to be passing by when he was but a teenager. Chance. He was sold to Potipher. Chance. Potipher’s wife got him alone when her husband was gone. Bad timing. He resisted and ended up in jail. Bad break. Coincidently, his cell mates were some guy who was a butler for the king and the other was the king’s butler. Chance. The butler and baker both have dreams that Joseph rightly interprets and what they portended came to pass. What are the chances?

Finally after the butler is restored to his position with the king and promises to remember Joseph, he forgets. Ingrate! Finally, Pharaoh has a disturbing dream which no one can interpret. That chance event triggers the butler’s memory and Joseph is sent for to interpret the dream. He does. Great timing!

So get this, while Joseph was definitely a man of understanding who came into power and great wealth, was it his understanding or time and chance that made that happen? And before you answer that, consider what Joseph said several years later when reunited with his traitorous brothers who originally sold him to those slave traders who happened by that fateful day many years earlier. He said, “But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

TED talks:
(A word about TED talks, I would like to point out that I don't agree with every sentiment uttered by TED presenters or even everything these particular videos convey, BUT I have found pieces of inspirations within these and others. In particular, I enjoy them when filtered through my understanding of God.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjUJTw2i1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmzxmRcUTo

I Recent Revelation Revisited

2009-05-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

Recently God gave me this lessen and when Rick sent me this quote it came rushing back.

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."
William James, philosopher

That's a good one. Kinda goes along with the red sea revelation God gave me. That the way out is through the flesh. When trapped between the armies of Egypt (or hell) and you pray for them to leave but they don't, the answer lies in asking God if the physical barrier you are trapped against is really a barrier at all. If our prayer to end the oppression is not answered the only appropriate question is, "what new heights in Christ am I being pushed into?" There are several things God could be up to, but they revolve around learning who we are and what God is for us. Moses needed to stretch out his arm holding the staff of his authority and command the physical reality to get out of his way. God's stated motive was to gain glory over pharaoh (a false god), but the work in Moses was to stop seeing with physical eyes, start seeing with prophetic eyes, and practice acting in the full authority of his position (relationship) in God (God called him "my servant.")

I call it a sense of mandate. It's what Jonah didn't have until he'd spent 3 days in the belly of the whale. When God says, go here and do this, we don't ask how big the scary monsters are, we should be like Joshua and say, "let me at them."

We must crucify the hesitance. We must realize that what is holding us back isn't the obstacle our flesh perceives before us, but our false perception of it as an obstacle. We don't see the way out because we believe we are who we are, not who we are in relationship with Christ (or we don't trust God to come through for us.) Remember the kid in the Matrix, in the oracles living room bending spoons. he said the hard part was remembering that the none of it was real. The answer is remembering who we really are and who God is. Be they the physical laws of this planet or the metaphysical laws of the spirit realm, God sets them aside when He chooses. When we dare to go to the end of our humanity we learn the super humanity of Christ in us.

To update you on life:
Yesterday, I got a call from Jodi at Dare to Live. Mike is going to start reshooting, "Stop the Nightmare." I met with him today and we talked over what needs to happen and by when. It's the kind of aggressive schedule I like, and new helpers to make it happen (Misty is committed to editing for three hours a day.) So we should have a rewrite on the book by June 7, and a new script for the video by June 25. We start tomorrow. When I got home I had an email from iUniverse--my final proof is ready to review. I just finished the review and when I've posted this I'll go to the iUniverse site and approve the manuscript for production. That means before my 38th birthday I'll have a book out, and another one written. Even if these milestones don't come about I'm still a writer, nothing will change that. However, I'm still looking forward to being a writer that God has blessed.

Goals are over-rated!

2009-05-23T01:02:00.000-07:00

It may take a couple installments to get my point out but bare with me.

What do I mean when I say goals are over-rated? Well, I'm not saying that they are detrimental. Some people have given the word "goal" a definition that included some value and then made huge progress by setting goals. I won't deny that. But I'm going to argue that I can rephrase the definition of the word "goal," to exclude those positive aspects. I think we can get those benefits elsewhere without the the negatives inherent to goal setting.

I've found most of the times I've set goals it turned into a list of things to fail at. I would write things like lose five pounds. Well why would I write that? I'm probably a good 50 pounds overweight. What I really want is to be healthy. So why not make that a goal? Well a goal needs to be quantifiable, and something I deem achievable. If the net effect of my life so far has been to teach me that I can't achieve things, or that I'm unworthy of getting the things I want, then it doesn't matter if I set a goal I won't get anywhere. The goal only works to track my next failed attempt. It can reinforce my feeling of being trapped.

Goal setting is limited to what I think I want. I know anorexics who achieve my five pound weight loss goal on a regular basis. And we are always swimming against the current because the nature of a goal is to take you from where (who) you are to where (who) you aren't.

Vision on the other hand, is far more sophisticated at helping us make positive change. Starting with an assessment of where we are, the good and the bad, you can begin to search inside for what you really want. As the picture of who you really are becomes more clear you can go about the work of ditching the things that aren't you.

If I can envision myself healthy, in vivid detail, I will continue to do the healthy things that will cause me to loose first the five pounds and later the rest of the weight. Clear vision also enables me to excite other people who care about me to help.

More late...

A Nice Reword of a Famous Quote

2009-05-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

I cut these excerpts from Mike Pinks newsletter because they speak to me.

One way quite frankly is to get mad. I know that doesn’t seem very spiritual, but it can be. Have you had enough yet? At the end of Isaac’s life he blessed Esau by saying… “By your sword you shall live and serve your brother, but the time will come when you will grow restive and break loose and take dominion, and tear his yoke off from your neck.” Have you grown restive yet? Are you mad yet? Have you had enough of barely making it?

Aye, fight and you may lose. Run, and you’ll survive… at least a while longer. But dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance to come back here and confront your fears and step into the battle and actually live out what you say you believe and put it all on the line?

You might lose your money, but you will never lose your reward. You might lose a battle here and there, but you will never again lose heart and more importantly, you will have found courage and honor and valor and love. Fear may have taken your past, but it will never again rob you of your future! It’s time to move into your destiny. Just don’t expect it to come without a battle and a few scars to show for it.

A Good Word

2009-05-20T01:20:00.000-07:00

So at worship last Saturday a recent acquaintance and strong prophetic voice pulled me aside to say that she felt Isaiah 61: was important for me, that it was a now word. I love Isaiah 61 as it's Christ's mission statement and the real heart of the great commission. I think many Christians get lost when they say the great commission is to spread the gospel, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's more like a virus than a good word. It helps to think of the gospel in action as described by Christ in Luke 4 when Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in the synagogue. Anyway, this friend said verses 6-9 were especially important for me in starting here and now.

Isaiah 61:
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

So I'm definitely choosing to align myself with that one.

God Bless,

Andy

A tough weekend

2009-05-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, when the rubber hits the road as they say...I can't claim to have followed through on all my plans. This was a tough weekend--lots of falling short of my goals--but I'm still happier than I have been in a long time. I'm succeeding at more things than I would be if I hadn't tried.

Often when I have a particularly challenging time it means something big is coming about. I thought I might bother writing about the challenges, but I'm glad I didn't get time to because today I want to write about the developments.

God has been consistent in pronouncing two things over me since I got my heart back. 1) I'm a writer. 2) I'm an Archer. I have traditionally focused on the writing, and instantly ignored the Archery. I have been willing to entertain the notion that I was a good instructor and could be again as part of volunteering at youth camps and things. I never let myself dream about it though. I've become such a fan of dreaming and God has shown me so many things about dreaming that it's hypocritical of me not to dream about archery. Still I never did.

My parents never invested in my archery passion. They bought me a bow and set up hay bails for me, but there were no lessons, or clubs, or tournaments. Much like my writing it was discouraged as impractical.

Well in realizing that I want to be a life coach I've realized that I have bigger dreams for archery as well. I want to make a reputation for shooting and teaching archery, then vault from that into life coaching.

Break Through

2009-05-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

So, today, as I'm praying over the options before me (options of what to dream of not options that are physically presenting themselves) I listened to a webinar by Micheal Q. Pink about becoming a Rain Forest strategy Consultant and he pointed out the light starts it all off. We have to have a clear vision of what we want or we won't be able to go after the other things we need. I was reviewing the ideas of taking my book on the road to sign/sell, going to Phoenix U to finish a bachelors in business, and going to Panama to learn to be a business consultant in the Rain Forest Strategy. I felt as though these are disparate dreams, sort of all-good-but-in-each-others-way type of dream. Like when you ask a kid what he wants to be when he grows up and he answers, a fireman or a doctor. I felt as though I couldn't be passionate and have a clear vision about me doing all of the above--though they all feel equally appealing. God reminded me that He had promessed me clear vision. The Lord began to point to a place of intersection. Life Coaching.

I've always thought of life coaches as Russel Durritz (The Kid) kind of people. They can't possibly really have it all together so they must make the most of the part they do and fake the rest. But the obstacles in my life began to line up and make sense. I need to overcome in Christ, a weight problem, disorganization, lack of follow through issues, romantic relationship issues, and poverty. On the two book shelves closest to me are 72 books about success in these areas plus a tape series. I'm pertty sure I have more all over the house, actually I know I have two in the bathroom right now. I'm clearly passionate on this idea. Last time I tried to come up with a vision statement I got as far as "helping people make a small but significant improvement in their lives for a buck." And think of the Chrysalis project (all about managing change).

God calls me "Friend," that's my access point. That's the special nature between us that has immerged in the last couple years of asking, "who do I say God is for me in this season, and who does God say that I am?" I knew that I could be a friend and work as a plumber, so I didn't think it was very descriptive, but now I'm thinking friend/coach makes sense. Where does my great passion meet the need of the world? I've known I was annointed to be a counselor but again I didn't feel called to be a shrink exactly. My pioneer nature and my annointing to read the signs of the times also fit in to this vision.

I want to pioneer a new methods in life coaching and write a book about it. On the way there I want to learn and employ the methods of others, and make a living at it. Toward that end I do want to finish my business degree, become certified through the Rain Forest Institute among others, and tour behind my current book. I also intend to overcome the obsticles that are in my way that I may learn about them, and learn ways to defeat them.

Now that's some good clarity for my time of prayer and fasting. Now I need to go outside and enjoy the perfect afternoon that's out there.

May 13, 2009 2:15 AM

2009-05-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, one of my tenants lent me a movie. That's never happened before. Out of the blue she volunteered that if I hadn't seen it I needed to, and then lent it to me. Today I watched it, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." I'd been scrupulously avoiding that film. Not that I doubted its quality, but I was pretty sure that a sad, cathartic film was not what I needed at this juncture. I was wrong.

I do recommend the movie to anyone, its very well done and has like the cover says it must be experienced to appreciate. I'll give an update on where things are in a minute but want to talk about a couple things that struck me while watching this film.

I noticed how many cruel things happen in life, but since the film moves on to follow the major theme of the romance between Benjamin and Daisey, the tough things are in context. I found myself wishing the cruel moments away, wanting to get on with the beautiful, joyous moments. I'm now reflecting on the cruel things; the bitter sweet things; that I've endured, and wondering why I didn't feel the same about those. I have to conclude that there are a lot of things I've haven't grieved and moved past and it's stealing from my joyful highs.

I also noted that, even when characters made choices to avoid the pain that would come from walking through their ill-fated romance they still returned to experience part of it. At one point Ben decides to leave so that Daisy can move onto a normal life instead of having to suffer through his gradual regression to youth. But he comes back to see her. In fiction we realize that a human must experience everything there is to a cruel moment. We are drawn back to that moment because the pain of not walking it out is worse than knowing what it really feels like.

Again, we are doomed to suffer every dark happening in life until we face it and then set it aside.

Finally, I love the message about it never being too late for something. The only real gift of Benjamen's condition is that he experienced his physical youth (mid twenties?? maybe late teens??) When his mind and actual physical age were late 50's early 60's. Ben is able to leave all his worldly possessions and go in search of meaning, which is something I bet every man that age feels a calling to do.

Well, here's what's happening lately. I put it out there that I was searching for an RV, because God has been reawakening that desire. (like any truly exciting desire it's totally inexplicable.) Well an old friend from high school got sent me an IM and I'm going to make an appointment tomorrow to see one his dad has for sale. IT sounds promising. Now I just have to find the financing. (haha, I'm dead broke.)

I ran into a website where someone posted pictures of castles in England. Like a lot of people I love castles, but scanning through I saw pictures of Lindisfarn for the first time and I felt painful nostalgia for it. I've never been there, but I have a hunch I need to go.

Other big news, I heard from the production department at iUniverse and they have already completed my proof copy. So I'm closer to finished product than I'd thought based on their other emails. I will make time to go through the proof copy tomorrow. It also reminds me that all this warfare has been stealing away a high moment that I've been looking forward to my whole life. I should have been smiling my way through every pot hole on the way to this moment and I've been miserable and distracted. If I hadn't watched that movie tonight I might not have missed it all together.

This is something God and I have been squabbling over for a year or two. It's in God's nature to awaken the desires of my heart, deepen them, and then fulfill them. But when I look at characters like Abraham who are promised a child and then don't get him for decades, that doesn't feel like receiving. That attitude pisses God off by the way, but I needed to work through it. This is what I'm starting to see now: If God gives me a desire that is with in my grasp I'll just go get it. Look at Christmas, we have to wait till the last minute and buy something expensive because if its affordable they'll just go get it themselves. It's worse if my desire is just out of reach because I'll be really irresponsible and go get it anyway.

So if God takes his time and deepens a desire I have that is really big and way outside my grasp, by the time He brings it about I've lost hope and it feels anticlimactic. It's been a problem since I was young. My parents used to have to distract me at Christmas or I'd throw up from anticipation. I want things so intensely that I either must have them, or must loose them to end my suffering.

The image is one of me getting off an amazing roller coaster and God looks at my face and says next time try to enjoy the ride. Another way to say it is this, the purpose of ski diving isn't to fly or to hit the ground, but to transition from one to the other as slowly as possible.

As a writer I face 3 questions: 1) can I finish a book, 2) can I sell it, 3) can I do it again. I'm really looking for the answers to these questions to say something about who I am and that's not how it works. I need to be a writer because that's who God says I am, and then I need to write because that's what writers do. The part of me that doesn't finish things needs to die and be replaced by someone who savors every step of the process all the way to its end. This is change at the level of reinvention.

Season of Prayer and Fasting

2009-05-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

There is a term for seasons like the one I'm in. Wilderness experiences. For those of you who haven't read the post before this one you should, because it lays the ground work for this series of entries. It isn't complete though. For one thing I forgot to mention the health problems like sleep apnea and high blood pressure that have added to my usual weight problem. My last entry also didn't cover what I'm going to do about all this crisis.

I'm deliberately entering into a time of prayer and fasting, and God has blessed me with a couple big opportunities for reflection during this season. God has also begun to reveal things and bring clarity, so I know that its working and I'm really encouraged by that.

The action plan started May 5 and will last until my birthday June 9. It includes:
fitting in a 5 day liver cleanse
change of diet and exercise (to be discovered en route)
writing in this blog daily (lol we can see how that's gone so far)
writing a book in 30 days (I've wanted to do this for a long time)
Simplifying and organizing projects

When I say God has really met me in this I mean it. There has been a ton of warfare against this, which is part of the reason that I'm just now getting to this blog, but God has also brought about clarity on the topic of my calling. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to loose my job soon, but I'm not too worried about that. I knew that the time for this job was drawing shut I just wasn't sure the timing was this close. However, I'm at peace with it if it happens. It was more disconcerting to be out of touch with my hearts desires than to not know how I'm going to pay my bills when they dump me.

That clarity is this. I do want to market my book when it comes out. I do want to write my next book. I do want to live in a motor home/tailor etc. I do want a different job that is more relational and less bureaucratic where I have positive impact on the lives of the people I deal with.

God has also brought about the opportunity to be on the prayer team for a boot camp, which I've done before but always enjoy the challenge. Another possible opportunity is to start my coffee shop/book store with Joseph.

I also have a couple of action plans, by which I mean I know steps to take but I'm unable to predict or control the outcomes. These is my next steps in the actions plan:
I will look at job listings (though I'm not feeling a priority on this)
I will look for a motor home/trailer (though I don't know how I'd pay for it)
I will contact Pheonix university again (though I'm not certain I should go back)
I will continue to be open with my feelings on this blog (so I don't isolate)
I will read the book in a month manual and continue to write the mystery
I will continue to read the book on getting organized so I can reduce the things I own to what will fit in a motor home.
I will continue to eat healthier and exercise more. (so far not too bad.)

So far so good.

A Change of Pace

2009-05-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm going to deviate from my intended subject material for this blog for the rest of this month. See I intend this blog to focus on true faith-based living. Not religious living, or Christian life-style choices, but following the wild goose (to put it in terms Wild at Heart men would recognize).

Well in being loyal to the message/idea of going where the Spirit leads instead of playing it safe, I'm going to stop blogging about it and blog it in my life for this short season in my life.

Here's what's going on: I'm turning 38 on June 9. I have received from God, a lot of description around my calling, but nothing absolutely concrete. Well that's not entirely true, I know that I'm called to be a friend to people. That I won't be accomplishing much outside of the context of friendship. I think that's pretty cool, but I was hoping for something more like, go to the pacific island of Truk and share the gospel while discovering a cure for diabetes. So you can see I've been a little frustrated. Not that I ever wanted to be research scientist or an evangelist, but at least that's a specific thing. Okay I know that what I'm asking for is an assignment not a calling, but I was just hoping that my calling would suggest a direction more than it does.

So I'm 38, almost, and I haven't known what I really wanted to do with my life. Of course something triggered this latest round angst, actually several somethings. Traditionally I've been working very part-time jobs and living lean (or above my means) in order to write on a novel--which I've just finished. I don't mean just completed, I actually went in with an artist friend and paid to have it published with his illustrations. So that process is nearly complete and I've been asking myself if writing is really my calling. I enjoy solitude, yes, but I'm also a people person and I can't write all day every day. Few writers can. Most writers do something else for a living even when there books sell well. So I'm back to square one, asking, "what ELSE do I do?"

Well on top of all that, I've traditionally been single. I lived for myself for many years and then I lived exclusively for God. I loved the freedom to take part in things that I wouldn't have had time for if I were trying to support a family. Then I fell in love with a woman and her three daughters. Ami and the girls made me open my heart to more--I had to grow new chambers and I had to morn the loss of freedom I'd come to enjoy. After I'd crossed that bridge and couldn't turn back Ami decided that where she was in life needed to be alone so that she could grow. She has completely cut off communication and its been really hard because we in the same home church group.

Speaking of the home group. I've been seeking a mythic fellowship for several years. I came back to Christ when my father died in 2003. I didn't really make a go of it until August 2004 when I attended a Wild at Heart boot camp but ever since then I've been seeking a group to fellowship with/live life in the same direction with. I've tried on several occasions to form such a group but something always happened and people pulled up short of real togetherness in favor of superficial church-type relationships. This latest group has made it about the furthest, but that has been aggravating lately too, because I am going through all this emotion and they don't seem able to process it.

So in my calling, my intimate allies, and my love life are all going through a crisis. I feel terribly cliche part of the time, but I also know God enough to know that I'm in a terrific place. Based on my past experience with God I can say with certainty that crisis is an opportunity for God to bring clarity and blessing into a place that I've been holding Him out of. So if God is going to bring clarity and blessing to these three major aspects of my life I'm strapping in for the ride of my life. I believe my future is on the line and I'm going to live or die trying.

More soon.

this is great

2009-02-18T00:03:00.000-08:00

read Colossians 1-27 if you don't believe it.

From a Friend's Email

2008-12-04T02:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Guys,

For those of you I haven't talked to recently I miss you and continue to have fond memories of our mission, battles, and successes in setting men free together. I know of none of us who have not been financially adversely affected by the current economy, there really has been no safe place to hide in terms of this worlds safe havens. We need to remember that America's (and most of the western world's) incredible prosperity over the last 100 years is a statistical anomaly when compared to what the world has looked like for the past 6,000 years.

I have been reading a great book called Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster (who graduated from George Fox University) and it has really helped me put some things in perspective during my own desert journey with Jesus. First, as I read Mark 4:35 where Christ take the disciples across the lake at night and the furious storm comes up. Were the disciples in sin? No, clearly they were following Christ very closely. Was prudence recommended given it was night, these fisherman knew how quickly storms could come up, should they have said no? Clearly not. Was Christ surprised by the storm? No he was able to sleep soundly right through the middle of it due to his power and peace of the father in Him.

Why did Jesus allow the disciples to be scared out of their wits, just to prove a point? To be a mean God? No, he was "loving" them by having a chance to very personally show them His power in a way that would blow them away. Of all of his miracles this one probably impacted them the most because they were well versed in boating and "knew" no one could calm the storm instantly. Even if the wind dies down suddenly the waves usually continue to rock the shore for hours afterwards due to the built up kinetic energy in the water.

And what was the key thing Jesus wanted them to take away from this? Trust, trust that He has the power to walk through anything with us no matter how "knowledgeable" we are about the subject, or how many times we have tried and failed etc. He wants peace in our inner world regardless of the external world going on around us.

2 Cor 4:8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

So I find myself meditating on the thoughts of being in a small boat with waves crashing all around and Jesus is sleeping soundly next to me with a small blanket over Him. All I need to do is reach out to His hand and hold it and He gently wakes up and says "it is going to be all right, I am with you, just trust in me".

I truly love you guys and pray for the freedom that comes from Trusting God in your lives. If there is anything I can do for anyone of you please do not hesitate to call or e-mail me we will always be the church together to this world as long as we live on this earth.

In Christ's Love,

Remember Your Heart

2008-11-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

I've learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sings "Silent Night".
Age 5

I've learned that our dog doesn't want to eat my broccoli either.
Age 7

I've learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back.
Age 9

I've learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again.
Age 12

I've learned that if you want to cheer yourself up, you should try cheering someone else up.
Age 14

I've learned that although it's hard to admit it, I'm secretly glad my parents are strict with me.
Age 15

I've learned that silent company is often more healing than words of advice.
Age 24

I've learned that brushing my child's hair is one of life's great pleasures.
Age 26

I've learned that wherever I go, the world's worst drivers have followed me there.
Age 29

I've learned that if someone says something unkind about me, I must live so that no one will believe it.
Age 30

I've learned that there are people who love you dearly but just don't know how to show it.
Age 42

I've learned that you can make some one's day by simply sending them a little note.
Age 44

I've learned that the greater a person's sense of guilt, the greater his or her need to cast blame on others.
Age 46

I've learned that children and grandparents are natural allies.
Age 47

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
Age 48

I've learned that singing "Amazing Grace" can lift my spirits for hours.
Age 49

I've learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone.
Age 50

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a man by the way he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
Age 51

I've learned that keeping a vegetable garden is worth a medicine cabinet full of pills.
Age 52

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you miss them terribly after they die.
Age 53

I've learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life.
Age 58

I've learned that if you want to do something positive for your children, work to improve your marriage.
Age 61

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
Age 62

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
Age 64

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.
Age 65

I've learned that whenever I decide something with kindness, I usually make the right decision.
Age 66

I've learned that everyone can use a prayer.
Age 72

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
Age 82

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch-holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
Age 90

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.
Age 92

Repost from Micheal Q. Pink

2008-11-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

Too Much Bad News...

“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 Amplified

Yesterday I shared how the flow from your heart determines in large part the boundaries or borders or limits of the territory you will be able to possess. Be that financial, real estate, spiritual, etc. The flow from our heart consists primarily of the words we speak and the actions we take.

If the abundance of our heart produces words leading to action resulting in a life experience defined by boundaries, and if we find those boundaries or limitations very uncomfortable or constrained, it could be a clue to us to examine what we’ve been letting in our heart.

If you want to change your circumstances, you will need to change your actions. You will also need to change your words and that means changing what you feed upon or allow in your heart. Maybe this is just for me, but I realized that I feed too much upon news, both the mainstream, censored, unfair and imbalanced news and the alternative, somewhat angry, on the fringe, out of the norm kind of news you don’t see on the TV networks. Regardless of the source, none of it inspires hope or life or faith for me.

I don’t want the news media or the entertainment world to so fill my heart that my borders are defined by them. A little goes a long way! So I have cut way back and in its place begun deliberately at a much higher volume, filling my heart with exactly what I want to come out of my mouth and see lived out in my actions and reactions in life. More to the point, I want to enlarge my borders and I know they won’t be enlarged as long as I keep putting in the same information that got me where I am now. I am consciously choosing to deposit much more good into my heart and far less of the negative input that I have grown so addicted to. Does anyone relate to this?

And if you do, you might consider watching a full day seminar with 11 leaders who were asked to pass on their most important lessons learned for business as if we were their only heir and this was their last time to speak. It was called Taking Back The Gates and you will get the entire event in both CD and DVD format for a total of $39. I keep mentioning this offer because it is the best value offer we have ever made and so many of you keep ordering it for yourself of for Christmas presents. Click here to watch a short video and if you haven’t ordered this yet, think of it as an investment in your heart and your future boundaries. (While quantities last)

2 for 1 deal

2008-10-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know it may not make lot of sense to read only one side of a conversation but I'm trying to only post my own thoughts and lately I haven't had much time to turn my correspondence into essay form.

RE: Mentorship

In my experience the person who has spoken the most truth into my life is my friend Rick. He's only about 6 months older than myself. When I look at the nature of things in a healthy culture, part of learning something is turning to the next person and teaching it. So I'd say that a seven year old has something to teach a six year old, and should be encouraged to do so. I've learned a lot from a peer mentor group, mainly because my idea of accountability is to empower the people in my life to hold me accountable to the projects God is working on in me. (As apposed to them all trying to guide me in the fashion their experience tells them is right.) So like Brian said, get that group of men around whom you can be transperent. The main quality you all must have is a commitment to implementing the victory Christ is working in your life even if it causes emberasment sometimes.

The other model I see in a healthy culture (our own culture has some good things but has lost some other good things) is how they treat the sages amongst them. I think Brian is right on here. Seek out a trustworthy mentor. Even if you just have lunch together every two weeks. We neglect the wisdom of those who've been walking with God for a long time at our own detriment.

RE:Peter Pan Syndrome/Adultascents
I think there's a couple things going on there as well, but I do agree that some of it is Peter Pan Syndrome. I know one of those guys too.

But in defense of a lot of guys, the economy is in the toilette. The business guy on fox news the other day was recommending things you could do before closing up shop on your small business; one of which was moving back in with your parents. He was indicating paying them rent, not mooching, but the idea was sound. They get a little doe for a house they've probably paid for, and you get cheaper rent in exchange for grabbing things down from a top shelf for your mother. In itself moving home is not a sign that you aren't growing up.

There are some articles on the phenomenon sociologists are now calling adultascent, which is men and women over 21 that live at home with mom and dad. There is some indication that the issue is cultural on two levels. One the first level they are not growing up. They are not being initiated by parents and having that reinforced by society. I think that's a legitimate concern and probably what you are referring to.

One the second level, young people these days are not receiving the opportunities that there parents and grand parents did. A college degree doesn't guarantee what it used to. Fewer jobs have internship opportunities. Employment is less steady, as is the home buying market. It takes more training at greater expense to get a job that pays a living wage. etc. The peter pan syndrome is just scratching the surface of the issue, and I don't know if we can say its a cause or merely another symptom of the same disease.

Another Response to an online Group

2008-10-21T03:53:00.001-07:00

I wrote this in response to a statement I made about faith and obedience.

I admit that obedience can't be completely throne out. It's hard to discount it, for its certainly pleasing to God. But if we think about the kinds of things we can do to please God we get a clearer picture of obedience, which in turn can shine a light on verse like the ones you quoted.

For example: Loving one another, giving, loving your neighbor as yourself, extending grace and forgiveness, sharing the Gospel, healing the sick, taking in the homeless, etc. All these things please God. All these things trace back to loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself, which I'd point out was what Jesus said all the commandments hinged upon. Hence, John 14:21 in context should read, "He who understands loves God utterly and completely, as well as loving others and himself; it is he who loves me."

The gentlest way I can put this is to say that it seems clear to me that God is more interested in our faith than our obedience. But God is working with me to get over my fear of offending people so let me dive into a stronger way of putting it.

There is an obvious connection between the law and our modern understanding of obedience, which is misunderstood and therefore the cause of many disagreements among Christians. Are we talking about being obedient to the law or obedient to God.

If I asked most Christians which is true:
A) you can obey God and not the law, or
B) you can obey the law and not obey God.

Most Christians today would answer B. After all, how can you obey the law of God and disobey God? It's easy. We call these people pharisees. Conversely, it is also possible to obey God and disobey his law. That's why we have Grace in Jesus Christ. Simply put, the entire old testament proves that people suck at obedience. Therefore God used a better way, a new covenant.

I would say that obedience to the law is worshiping what was created instead of the creator. In this way it is no different than worshiping a tree, which is made by God but is not God in itself. We call this idolatry. It doesn't matter what you elevate above God a tree or the principals of Christianity, its still idolatry. Actually to make matters worse what most Christians seek to obey isn't the commandments of God at all but really there own denominations recompilations of the law, which is the same as obeying that which is made by man. That's what Paul was talking about on Mars hill when he said that God doesn't need things made by man to be worshiped, for "in Him we move and breath and have our being."

If it sounds like I'm making too much of this concider listening to "Room of Grace" by John Lynch. I've already mentioned that obedience is connected to pleasing God. Striving to Please God is a dangerous thing to do. Its like imagining God on the other side of a grand canyon called, "your sins and failings," and you decide to try to reach God by feverously knocking dirt into the canyon from your edge. You just get further and further from God. The other option is enter grace and find out that Jesus is standing nect to you, saying, "you sure do have a pile of things to work on, can I help?" If you want to believe option B you will need faith.

And that's why faith is better than obedience.

A Sound Word About Friendship

2008-09-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

In Genesis we have the story of God speaking all things into being. This passage is receiving a lot of attention lately because of a new understanding God is releasing to some of his friends. The new understanding is about sound. If you search youtube.com for sound you'll find some pretty cool videos about the patterns certain things make when sound is introduced. For example sand thrown on a plate forms patterns when tones are introduced.

There is another aspect to the Genesis story that was recently brought up by Kim Clement.

"Genesis 3:1, "NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD. AND HE SAID TO THE WOMAN, 'HAS GOD INDEED SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN?'"

She answered the serpent correctly, which meant that she knew exactly what God meant. At that point, the serpent used words that created all kinds of doubts. The word for devil is diablo, which literally means, to speak (breathe out) to divide, or to whisper in order to cause division."

In other words, God speaks and Satan whispers. God creates with sound and words, but Satan destroys by a related force. He introduces lies, obviously, but what do those lies do? They rot the bonds that hold things together. Satan drove a wedge between Adam and Eve so that he could ultimately drive a wedge between God and man.

Everything exists in relation ship because in part God chose it to be so, but that's too simple. Think about it. Atoms are held, bonded in relationship. The tiny pieces of matter that comprise us are not touching, they exist in relationship. In fact the type of matter and the nature of the bond very greatly.

So to come out of alignment with the vibration of God is to fly apart like a solar system with eroded gravity.

I just wanted to point that out.

What's Missing

2008-09-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today’s Thoughts

When I read or think about the opening chapters of Genesis, the line that sticks out to me is, “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen. 2:18-20)

In this perfect new world, created by God, where Adam walks intimately with God and has a duty to do there is still something missing. So God puts him asleep and takes something from him to form Eve. The term for Eve in Hebrew is “ezer kenegdo,” often poorly translated into “help mate.” Everywhere else the term appears it’s in reference to God, and is better translated as inspirational companion.

So, Eve was technically there from the start, at least to my way of thinking. In all that God was directly supplying, and in all that Adam was in and of himself, it just wasn’t quite right. God took something from Adam in order to supply it through another human being.

Here we have the very first relationship and we see what is inherent to relationship whether in a perfect world or a fallen one: Interdependence, bonding, attraction. In one sense God split the Adam—pun intended—and created the first human to human bond. I know I’m laboring a point but think about it. God chose to supply something indirectly. He felt it was better, needed, to work through another human to bless a man. The pinnacle of Creation is relationship.

It is Not Good for Man to be Alone:
The questions that leap to my mind are these:
A) What is God removing from us that he is going to supply even better through relationship?
B) What has God made me with so that I will supply it to others?
C) What would this world look like if we were all supplying each other with the things God made us to be?

Fun Extras We Don’t Often Think About:
So in addition to every living thing, during creation God makes:
Light (energy)
Sun, moon, and stars (time, motion, place and direction)
The earth (matter)
Rest
Relationship

God used a specific order to do everything. By creating Adam, naming him, placing him in the garden, telling him to name the animals, telling him not to eat of the one tree, then creating Eve, God is establishing a certain way or order that is best. Man is born, has an identity bestowed upon him, adventures while being mentored by God, becomes responsible for certain things, then discovers woman and learns what’s been missing.

It fascinates me that God designed us in this way. That even in a perfect world we would notice a lack before receiving. What I’m trying to say is that it we aren’t born in love with someone. We develop as individuals first and along the way a desire is initiated, deepened and then supplied. It’s all right there in the beginning.

Today's Thoughts

2008-09-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today’s Thoughts:
It occurred to me, while I was getting ready this morning that I needed to reread what Paul said in his address at Mars Hill.

Acts 17
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

This is very nearly the mission statement of my life. I ask the reader, “What is the difference between a graven image and an intellectual idea?”

A Moment on Idolatry:
Idolatry is to hope, worship, trust or fear of anything other than God. An easy example would be money. Not just the love of money but the feeling of dependence on it. I hear Christians all the time say that they can’t start this or that ministry, even though they feel called to it, because they don’t have the money. As though the fact that God called them to do it doesn’t also intone his anointing and provision.

Even our earthly parents wouldn’t ask us to mow the lawn and then not provide a lawn mower. Why would we expect that behavior of God? Then again God often asks us to do things we dream of doing so a better example might be—even earthly parents wouldn’t offer to take their kids Disneyland and make them pay their own airfare.

So if we think that God expects us to make our ministries happen then we are thinking of something that we can do in our own strength, just as we might carve a graven image. The goal of the 2nd commandment is to stop worshipping man-made things.

Now the Revolutionary Stuff:
I believe, beyond any doubt, that all religions are man-made; even Christianity. Religions are intellectual structures created by men. They are a way of going about spiritual things without engaging the spirit. They encourage living from the head not the heart.

What was once accomplished through relationship is now accomplished through program. Instead of mentorship we have public education. Instead of apprenticeship we have colleges and trade schools. Instead of coming together for supper we have crackers and grape juice four times a year. Instead of worship we have three songs before a sermon. We publish a freaking program for church. Instead of giving a home to a homeless person, we have a program for the homeless. Instead of talking with a friend about God we have an evangelistic series. I could go on forever.

Those who love the Lord worship him in spirit and in truth—not on special days, on sacred ground, in approved ceremonies, lead by elite people.

My Mission Statement:
"Men of America! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I grew up among your objects of worship; I even found a ‘house of God.’ Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all men; and he determined where and when they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and find him, though he is closer to us than our clothes are to our skin. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his children.'

"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think the divine being is like non-profit institutions, programs, rituals, or tips and techniques—the ideas of man's mind or imagination. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For a day comes when he will judge all humans by their friendship with Christ Jesus through whom he made and redeemed all things."

Crisis of Faith

2008-07-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

To the Yahoo Group...in response to an honest question about questioning God.
________________________________

Generally when I reach a crisis of faith its because I'm living in expectation instead of expectancy. Not to be cute or trite about it, I have come to believe that God will always come through for me, and that it will often look nothing like I think it should. In fact God has shown an interest in destroying some of the good things He placed in my life earlier, as a way of moving me into things he wants for me next.

This is universally true with me. God leads me into tight corners, prunes away perfectly good things, sours my milk, even cuts a wound in me from time to time. It's all to move me into what is next. Yesterday's weapons don't work against tomorrows demons. I don't get my new shield when I see an enemy draw back his bow. I get my new shield when the arrows are descending upon me.

I need to KNOW that I'm provisioned to stand in the spot I'm called to stand in. I'm called to be a man, I'm called to be a husband and a father. God did this to me, He didn't even ask if I wanted it. He made me to want it, he awakened the desires so I would beg him to give it to me, then he gave it to me and most of the time I don't feel at all prepared for it, lol. After 37 years as a single man God is giving me a wife and three daughters. I'm so far outside my comfort zone I don't know which way is up. Yet I KNOW God has prepared and provisioned me.

By his stripes we are healed. To me that means a perfectly good tree had to be wounded so that the orphaned branches could be bound into that spot and live. As an orphaned branch that is restored to the vine I give God full authority to prune my life that it may bare good fruit.

But as you say, their are days when the fog sets in so thick I can't remember the promises God made me. On those days its hard to believe that their even is a God. I think that Dan's question has come across the minds of every true believer at some time or another. That's when we must lean on each other.

A. R. Bunch

All Sin is Equal: Even Homosexuality.

2008-07-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Another in a long line of responses to a yahoo group.
___________________________________________

I definitely promote the all sins are equal standpoint. I've heard the "sin that leads to death" argument before and its very compelling, but I just can't read it that way and have it fit in with my understanding of God.

You certainly don't have to agree with me, but this is how I read that. If the only way to live eternally was to get to New York City, and my friend gets on a flight for Dallas TX, and I get on one bound for LA. neither of us is doing what we need to in order to get there. Lets say that my friends plane crashes and he dies in Oklahoma. Can we say that he was a better man than I? He got a lot closer to New York than I did. But I'm still alive to try again. Which of us is better off?

The thing I love the best about that example is that we can all see that we don't have enough information to judge. If I pushed for an answer I'm sure we could give one, and have pretty good reasons why we picked one guy over the other, but realistically as humans we just can't tell. No one made it to New York so it doesn't matter if one guy dies, to my way of thinking.

Now if the argument is--if you believe your wrong actions are right actions you are in more danger because you won't repent them--that's a little different matter. I can see that. On the other, I think we all have sin in our lives that we are unaware of. Even if its just a wrong idea about who we are. Many a passive man thinks he's a good Christian even though he's abusive to his family through inaction. Is that a sin that leads unto death because he doesn't know to feel bad about it?

I think a number of Christians think they are doing the world a disservice if they don't stand against homosexuality because homosexuals claim that their actions aren't wrong. Every person I've ever known who recovered from same sex attraction said that they knew all along it was wrong, even if it was just a tiny voice inside. Setting that aside I think the first sin to eliminate from your life is the sin the Holy Spirit brings to your attention. We might be shocked to find out the number of sins the Holy Spirit chooses to work on ahead of homosexuality.

I challenge the notion that we are helping anyone by actively fighting homosexuality. Again, I'm not in favor of it. I don't approve of it. I just want to point out that as Christians we need to spend a lot more time and energy pronouncing what is really true about someone, and less energy and time addressing the things we think they do wrong. The power of life and death are in the tongue. If we speak to the Spirit in someone we will call that out and the flesh will fall away. If we speak to the flesh in them only bad things happen.

A. R. Bunch

On the topic of politics again

2008-07-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Below is a post I made to a Wild at Heart yahoo group forum. I thought I'd post it here as well as it gives a good insight into Christianity and politics. I do want to add to it a link to an article by MorningStar ministries that says very similar things regarding revival.
_________________________________
Well that is a certainly a great post to get things heated up on this forum. Good Job Brian.

I have so many comments to make from so many angles I don't quite know where to begin.

I'll begin with W. Brian Thorton's statement "...However, I believe that dependence on the government and the welfare
state we now live in is nothing short of a spiritual curse. God is no
longer our provider. Since government is our provider, we don't need
God anymore. So, for nearly 80 years He (God) has gradually been
removed from our public lives."

What a great insight, and undoubtedly true. God loves to tell me things, which--if I repeated them--people would think I'm crazy. He once explained to me that a spirit of brotherly strife once lived in Africa. Village conquered their neighbors and sold them as slaves. With these slaves came civil strife which lead to civil war here in America. The reason this spirits power didn't erode in the American south until Dr. King was that no one had ever fought it on both a political and spiritual front before.

Sounds kinda crazy to me but it also makes sense. At the same time I think it might be a stretch to blame the California fires on gay marriage. While we as humans can look at gay marriage and see an indicator of the moral temperature of a culture is that how God sees it? God knows every sin in every heart. Is he more upset that a person choses to have sex with a person of the same sex, or if that person tries to marry a person of the same sex? Aren't we committing adultery when we lust after a married woman? Does that anger God more or less than wanting to have sex with someone of the same sex? These are strictly rhetorical questions.

Reading the bible, I don't get the feeling God is happy about homosexuality, but aren't all sins equal? As Christians we get so caught up in disapproving of one sin over another. When Jesus interceded on behalf of the prostitute, he asked, "where are your accusers?" Only Jesus was without sin so only Jesus was in a place to accuse her, and he didn't. That's an example we need to study.

I'm always surprised by the way modern evangelicals (whom I often criticize though I count myself among them) discount and ignore the entire old testament unless the subject is homosexuality. Brian I know as an Adventist you probably don't count yourself an evangelical Christian or someone who ignores the old testament, but we'll come back to that.

I've written here before regarding Sodom and Gomorrah, (Genesis 18:16 on) but I'll go back to it for the new kids. I find it telling that God decides not to send the destroying Angels straight to work, but comes to earth with them and walks past Abraham's tent. So God chose to consult a human, or at least provide an opportunity for comment, before destroying the cities. God also let himself be talked down to 10 righteous people. We always blame Abraham for stopping there, but I think he is only guilty of having too much faith in his relative Lot. Surely Lot and his family had at least ten righteous among them. Even though Abraham stops at that point, God still makes a way of escape for the righteous who are there.

So if we look for just a moment beyond the whole gay thing we see a few more things that God was up to. It was an opportunity for relationship with Abraham. It was a way to move Lot out of a bad situation he'd become too comfortable with.

I also want to point out the footnote in the NIV version that says "spare them" is actually also interpretable as "forgive them." To my mind that could read, "26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." That sounds crazy. Am I saying that if we were to intercede for the gays God would forgive them? The only thing God says about why He's telling Abraham is that he intends to make a great nation of him and bless all nations through it. So is God training Abraham to intercede? I think so. There is also a reference to Ez. 16:49 "Now this was the sin
of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and
unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." So while God never tells Abraham the exact sin Sodom is guilty of we assume its homosexuality because that's what's up when the men check it out. But the only time anyone says what the "outcry" was its that they didn't share there blessings.

This all leads me to believe that the bible doesn't actually indicate that God has a special hatred of homosexuality, which causes Him to punish entire regions.

My point in all this is that we as men of God need to be standing in our place in the battle. We need to be men of God, whom God blesses the wicked through. I think that's the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of us who are circumcised of the heart are spiritually the sons of Abraham and we are anointed to be conduit of blessing to the world. Not a conduit of judgment and condemnation.

This point dovetails into my next comment.

Politically speaking we Christians have invited much of the hatred that is thrown against us. When I think of men like L. Ron Hubburd, the founder of Scientology, his father was a minister. So was James Hetfeild of Metalica. What about all the young boys that were molested by priests and ministers? What about the people who are sitting down to family dinner and the doorbell rings--its another Christian trying to cram God down their throat like it was Amway. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times a Christian has told me, "you either believe X, or you are going to hell." Don't we realize that it sounds like, "you either believe what I believe or you can go to hell?"

But whether we engage in some horrible abuse toward non-Christians or not we are all guilty of misrepresenting Christ. This is the scary aspect of what John Eldredge is teaching. Christian nice guys have are not what the world needs. I'm not saying this from a place of self recrimination but from a place of hope. The marred image of masculinity in our nation is not the result of Christian men living in the image of Christ. Its not because we didn't give enough tracts out, or communicate our disapproval enough. It's because we haven't let love be our identifying banner. We haven't gone the extra mile when carrying our neighbors burden. We haven't gone the first mile in many instances. We have not shared our blessings, and in that we are more like the residents of Sodom than we would like to admit.

A. R. Bunch

Laughter and Marriage

2008-06-10T12:04:00.001-07:00

"A merry heart does good, like medicine; but a broken spirit dries the
bones." (Proverbs 17:22NKJV)
Humor is one of the most important elements of a good marriage. It actually
begins when we meet and start dating. It is a crucial building block of the
relationship. Without it, we rarely find someone attractive or desire to be
with them. With it, we become friends who enjoy being with each other. Laughter
lights up our hearts with hope, trust and goodwill.
For most people, a sense of humor is one of the most important qualities they
desire in a spouse. When a marriage is good, we laugh and have fun. It
doesn't mean we aren't having challenges in other areas of the relationship. It
just means that in spite of our problems, we haven't lost our ability to see
the bigger picture and trust God.
When Crystal and I first met, we loved being together and we laughed a lot.
Both of us have a good sense of humor and it has always been an important
part of our relationship. Even after 6 years of marriage, we still laugh as much
as we always have. Crystal is the funniest and most entertaining person I
know. She keeps me from getting too serious, well, at least most of the time.
The only time in our marriage when we weren't laughing is when we were having
serious problems right after we got married. The more serious our problems
got, the more we fought and the less we laughed. The entire spirit of our home
changed. After the Lord began healing our marriage I remember the first time
we started laughing and joking again. I didn't realize how long it had been
or how important it was until it was reborn in our relationship.
My advice to every spouse and couple is to understand the importance of
laughter and having fun together. As Proverbs says, it is like medicine, but when
it stops your spirit dries up. Here are some of the enemies of humor that
you must watch out for:
* Negative thinking and talking
* Unforgiveness and bitterness
* Sarcasm and humor that wounds each other
* Working too much and ignoring your marriage
* Taking yourselves too seriously
* Not trusting in God; Doubt; Worry; Unbelief
I encourage you to work at having fun. I know that may seem like a
contradiction but it isn't. If humor and having a good time is no longer a regular
feature in your marriage you have to purpose to make it happen. It might be that
your relationship has become mundane and boring and you don't desire to be
with each other the way you once did.
There is nothing wrong with you that a little Godly fun can't cure.
Remember, it's like medicine. Just like when you were dating, find something to do
that you both enjoy and do it regularly. Make it a discipline for the sake of
your marriage. You'll find that in the midst of laughing together the world
looks much better and the wounds of life heal much faster.
Blessings,
John

How do we Compare?

2008-06-10T01:24:00.000-07:00

Is There a Difference Between NT Believers and Modern Christians

2008-06-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a great question posed by a friend.

What does the re-awakened man now living in his created purpose look like to you? How does that compare to the godly man of the NT?

That's a great question.

I think they look strikingly similar. I don't see any difference in the way people sin now than in their day and certainly the image of God hasn't changed. Actually Christ was the first Spirit filled man, at least I believe that he set his divinity aside and did everything in the power of the Holy Spirit, so all healings and miracles He did we could also. In His own words, all that and more.

There are two giant distinctions between Christ and anyone who came after. 1) Christ was perfect and we will forever be dependent on him for salvation. 2) Christ's mission included sacrifice for all mankind and ours is scaled back from that considerably.

I think we get caught up in strange ideas about Christ, and the entire trinity, and we loose focus on what we are to be about. For one thing we forget the Christ didn't dress up to talk to people. He didn't try to have 5,000 people follow Him, he was just here for a handful of intimate relationships, who in turn would effect the rest of the world. In other words his death was for all of us but his living ministry was mainly about those who walked intimately with Him. He blessed everyone around him who had needs because that was his nature, but that wasn't the focus of his ministry. He merely lived in the image of his father through relationship, and as example to his close friends through relationship.

When we follow that example and concentrate first on who we are in Christ, which is what God always intended for us, and second on what it means to have Christ in us, which is to walk in restoration and healing especially in the context of our intimate friendships. If we do that we will bless everyone we come in contact with and in fact we will heal people we don't contact directly through their relationship with people we know and love.

Much of Christianity today focuses on the life improvements that come from Godly living and fail to acknowledge the need for deep personal relationships, which is where ministry is really effective. Institutional Christianity doesn't preclude close friendships but it doesn't require them either. When we try to bless people or set them free through an institution we often breed dependence. It's not completely ineffective, but it could be better.

So I'd say the biggest difference between the new testament man and modern re-awakened man is that most men these days work institutionally and not relationally.

A. R. Bunch

2008-06-03T09:57:00.001-07:00

Another response to an online forum post.

Yep there is an interesting paradox at work here and Paul does a good job of getting at it.

I think this is the big difference between what I promote and the prosperity preachers everyone is so angry with.

I do acknowledge that we need to be aware of the blackness of our deeds before coming to Christ and how far we fall short of perfect with our best efforts. It is possible to become so wrapped up in the Grace of God that we take it for granted. There is an overwhelming joy at being released from our sins and those who are released from more and worse are all the more joyous. Also the suffering of Christ on our behalf is a beautiful testament to the Love God has for us. He didn't "just get over it" he paid for it out of his own blood and suffering. All this is true and important.

I tend to focus on the opposite problem because that's the one I see more often in modern Christianity. We get so wrapped up in our own failings that we forget to embrace the freedom Christ died to provide. The degree to which we hate ourselves is the degree to which we can't embrace the love of Christ.

Our God is so big that we live in a constant state of paradox. We are prisoners set free who choose to become slaves to God, which is the only way to remain free. We serve in order to lead, we must die in order to truly live. We must hate our lives to come to Christ who died to give us life abundant. We grow more Christ-like everyday even as we rot inside our physical bodies. We don't ever have to sin again and yet we know we will--still there is grace.

You can't feed this religion into a computer and make any sense of it, but when God speaks it all makes perfect sense. We can't confuse unworthiness with being worthless. What man or woman is truly worthy of the love your spouse gives you, much less God? Do we really deserve to receive gifts at Christmas or our birthdays? These things are given because to the person who gave them you are worth it. So while we are completely unworthy of salvation, especially at the cost of God's only son, because God provided salvation at the cost of his son that says we are worth it.

So we have to be careful not to engage in unbelief. Not the kind of unbelief that says there is no God, but the kind that says my sins are so black Christ didn't really die for all of them. We have to accept that we are loved beyond comprehension in order to fully embrace salvation. Its not enough to say God restored me to Him because he is good, we must believe that God wanted to do it because He loves us. When God feels his love radiating back at him its not complete without you, specifically you.

It's amazing how hard it is to say that though and not get called a prosperity preacher. Well so be it.

A. R. Bunch

Grace and Same Sex Attraction

2008-05-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

I wrote this in response to a emailed question about Same Sex Attraction in Christians.

---
I separate believers and non-believers when it comes to SSA, but of course its a journey. I believe homosexuality is a sin like any other sin. Christianity as a religion has done itself a disservice and totally misrepresented God's heart by setting homosexuality in a category of "super sins" which are extra abhorrent. I know you are asking specifically about lust but I'm setting up the background for my answer.

We spend too much time as churches, disapproving of the world in order to set ourselves apart, and very little spot-light is shown on growing as Christians ourselves. Christians are directed to look at the fruits in each other before accepting that someone is actually from Christ. We are to live closely together and grow as iron sharpens iron. I believe Christians are to be helping each other past things. I don't see anything that tells me I'm to pick on non-believers and show them my disgust at how they live. There is nothing edifying in that.

So when someone walks in the door of a church at an early stage of returning to Christ and they struggle with same sex attraction, it shouldn't be any different than if they were an alcoholic, or wife-beater, or pedophile. For that matter it shouldn't be any different than if they have one of the "acceptable sins" for Christians like neglecting your children, verbally berating your spouse, dishonoring your parents, pride, etc. It's no different than the sins Christians tolerate because they aren't very obvious like masturbation, envy, greed, or gluttony.

Same sex attraction is just a sin. It will fall away naturally as someone draws close to Christ. The things we must be weary of are the "Gateway Sins," the ones that we tolerate because we still kinda like them, or we don't know life without them, or we fear life without them. I think the big one these days is phariseeism. But pride, unbelief, and idolatry are core three. If we put our trust, fear, or hope in anything other than Christ we will fall prey to all the other sins. If we doubt that God can or will come through for us we will fall prey to the other sins.

So again the answer is "no," there is no difference between lusting after a man or lusting after a woman. The core desire of our hearts includes the desire to live in intimacy with men and women, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and if things wound our ability to experience that we are drawn to counterfeit ways of getting our needs met. True intimacy requires something of us, like trust, where lust requires nothing from us.

The best environment to deal with Same Sex Attraction in is a group of Godly men who will hold you accountable. If you are able to express your struggles and be accepted anyway you will begin to heal. The religion I grew up in constantly set themselves apart from the world by any manufactured means they could come up with. Instead of communicating God's love they came off as elitist.

One quick word about accountability though. Clearly I'm not talking about the kind of accountability that focuses on what you are doing or thinking, but the kind that focuses on where you're at. What you are suffering from is not as important as whether you are transparent about it. As long as our concern is intimacy with God we will do anything that will help including inviting our brothers into it. Conversely, if we make it about the problem then we are best served by hiding the problem and causing our brothers to feel like they need to go searching for the problem. While some friends will be able to give more targeted advice the truth is that anyone will do as a confessor as long as they can extend you grace.

For this reason Christianity has given those struggling with certain sins, especially homosexuality, nowhere to go to get better.

A. R. Bunch

Boot Camp Northwest Promo

2008-03-27T18:06:00.001-07:00

I'm proud to announce BCNW's new promo. Join us at an event.

A Moment of Inspiration

2008-03-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

I want to apologize for neglecting this blog. I have been super busy lately and it seems like this blog gets the very last effort I have. Strangely enough its one of the projects I'm most excited about. Here's a story you may find inspiring, and we'll see if I can get back to writing here soon.

Repost: Churning Churches

2008-02-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

By DAVID VAN BIEMA Mon Feb 25, 5:35 PM ET

A major new survey presents perhaps the most detailed picture we've yet had of which religious groups Americans belong to. And its big message is: blink and they'll change. For the first time, a large-scale study has quantified what many experts suspect: there is a constant membership turnover among most American faiths. America's religious culture, which is best known for its high participation rates, may now be equally famous (or infamous) for what the new report dubs "churn."
The report, released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is the first selection of data from a 35,000- person poll called the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Says Pew Forum director Luis Lugo, Americans "not only change jobs, change where they live, and change spouses, but they change religions too. We totally knew it was happening, but this survey enabled us to document it clearly."

According to Pew, 28% of American adults have left the faith of their childhood for another one. And that does not even include those who switched from one Protestant denomination to another; if it did, the number would jump to 44%. Says Greg Smith, one of the main researchers for the "Landscape" data, churn applies across the board. "There's no group that is simply winning or simply losing," he says. "Nothing is static. Every group is simultaneously winning and losing."

For some groups, their relatively steady number of adherents over the years hides a remarkable amount of coming and going. Simply counting Catholics since 1972, for example, you would get the impression that its population had remained fairly static - at about 25% of adult Americans (the current number is 23.9%). But the Pew report shows that of all those raised Catholic, a third have left the church. (That means that roughly one out of every 10 people in America is a former Catholic, and that ex-Catholics are almost as numerous as the America's second biggest religious group, Southern Baptists.) But Catholicism has made up for the losses by adding converts (2.6% of the population) and, more significantly, enjoying an influx of new immigrants, mostly Hispanic.

An even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds. That means that two-thirds of the people who told Pew they were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are - yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes Lugo, "No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors."

The single biggest "winner," in terms of number gained versus number lost, was not a religious group at all, but the "unaffiliated" category. About 16% of those polled defined their religious affiliation that way (including people who regarded themselves as religious, along with atheists and agnostics); only 7% had been brought up that way. That's an impressive gain, but Lugo points out that churn is everywhere: even the unaffiliated group lost 50% of its original membership to one church or another.

The report does not speculate on the implications of its data. But Lugo suggests, "What it says is that this marketplace is highly competitive and that no one can sit on their laurels, because another group out there will make [its tenets] available" for potential converts to try out. While this dynamic "may be partly responsible for the religious vitality of the American people," he says, "it also suggests that there is an institutional loosening of ties," with less individual commitment to a given faith or denomination.

Lugo would not speculate on whether such a buyer's market might cause some groups to dilute their particular beliefs in order to compete. There are signs of that in such surveys as one done by the Willow Creek megachurch outside Chicago, which has been extremely successful in attracting tens of thousands of religious "seekers." An internal survey recently indicated much of its membership was "stalled" in their spiritual growth, Lugo allowed that "it does raise the question of, once you attract these folks, how do you root them within your own particular tradition when people are changing so quickly."

The Pew report has other interesting findings; the highest rates for marrying within one's own faith, for example, are among Hindus (90%) and Mormons (83%). The full report is accessible at the Pew Forum site. View this article on Time.com

Fear Is Good

2008-02-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

This comes from Mike Pink. I hope you enjoy.

There are many identifiers of true humility, but one which is often overlooked is prayer. When we don't pray, we are saying in effect, "I can handle this myself." When we do pray, we are acknowledging our lack of ability and/or lack of trust in that ability and asking for God's influence, help, and aid in the situation. The more capable you are, the more you better learn to depend on God, or you will set yourself up for a fall.

One way to do that is to always be stretching beyond your comfort zone, beyond your known abilities and into that area where fear rears its ugly head. If you are not facing down fear, you are probably not attempting very much. If fear is paralyzing you right now, you are quite close to deliverance. You are entering the faith zone, where you must walk by faith and not by sight.

Get up a little earlier just to spend time with the Father. Read His word and then just get a pen and paper and listen. Write down the thoughts He gives you and obey. This is called listening prayer. So much of our prayer time is us telling God stuff He already knows and asking Him for things or favor, etc. But what He wants to give us more than anything is Himself, His presence, His love. He wants us to cognitively experience Him. Train yourself to be quiet and wait upon the Lord. How long should you wait? Until you experience His mercy (favor, grace) (Psalm 123:2)

In the end, you will find new strength, mount up with wings like an eagle and soar. When you run, you will not be weary and when you walk, you will not faint. (Isa 40:31)

A site that really echoes my beliefs

2008-01-03T17:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a site I stumbled on that really resonates with my heart on the topic of religion. See what you think.

http://www.theschoolofchrist.org/articles/churchianity.html

Here's an excerpt...

We must always be sure to distinguish between the Lord's invisible, universal, spiritual Church (the Ecclesia) and the non-profit religious organization that meets in a building with a steeple on top. The difference is incalculable, and we dare not make the mistake of confusing the two. Please understand that we do not question the right of any religious group to peaceably assemble together, elect their leaders, receive monies, have membership requirements, and govern themselves in the manner they see fit - as long as we realize that such a right is a civil right and is neither inalienable, Scriptural, or mandated by God Himself. That doesn't make it wrong, but neither does it make it spiritual. The Ecclesia is not an organization or invention of man, but an organism filled with the Life, and whether we worship "in Jerusalem or in this mountain" is not as important to God as whether or not we worship Him "in Spirit and in Truth."

So where is the distinction? What makes it an issue? It becomes an issue when spiritual or Scriptural significance is erroneously attached to a mere social contrivance, cultural norm, religious tradition, organizational structure, or place of meeting. When the waters are muddied and the lines are blurred between the social expectation, tradition, or custom of the religious organization and the true spiritual life and essence of the Ecclesia or the individual believer then such a system has the potential to evolve into a dangerous form of spiritual abuse or religious elitism.

What is Babylon? It is the marriage of church and state, religion and government; or to be more direct, it is allowing the leaven of the world to spread via Organized Religion and Institutional Christianity. As an example, consider how pastoring a church has become more of a profession than a calling, and how church government has digressed from a theocratic, Spirit-led consensus to a "Spirit-led" democracy, or worse, a "Spirit-led" benevolent dictatorship of a single pastor or a church board. This is the result of the spirit of Babylon. Whereas the True Church is to be "in the world, but not of the world", Babylon is that which is both in the world and of the world - it is by, for, and of the worldly system, yet it retains the outward appearances of godliness and spirituality. It is a synthesis of God and man, taking the best that each has to offer and fashioning a golden calf with it.

Babylon is always antithetical to Christ. It is anti-Christ. Babylon is represented as a religious whore riding on top of a beast which kills the prophets and saints of God. Perhaps we have missed the point by personifying the Antichrist as a Hitler-type world leader bent on global domination. Antichrist is the religious antithesis of Jesus Christ which flows from Babylon AS Jesus Christ. It is not coming, it is already here, and has been here from the beginning. Perhaps denominationalism is the real mark of the beast. If so, it is no wonder that so many are willing to accept it.

I hate preaching

2007-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Preaching. I don't think anyone really wants to be preached at. Most of the people sitting in pews every week don't want to be preached at. I don't know what makes us think someone wants me to ring there doorbell and preach at them. I can't stand preaching most of the time. Where did it come from, anyway?

I'll tell you where it came from. The Greeks. Those Greeks loved their orators. They were celebrities in their own time. In fact the best orators could convince you of something you didn't believe, and they didn't believe themselves. Greeks would have loved used car salesmen. Remember they invented democracy, I don't know if they were trying to be more fair or if they just loved all the filibustering.

The question is, does the Greek tradition of speaking homilies belong in Church any more than say showing a film? Is it biblical? I can't find any references to preaching in the bible that isn't also tied to teaching. Think of it. Sitting on a hard bench, eyes forward, listening to a lecture. It's more like school than anything else. So why do we think of it as part of "worship?"

My answer is to be creative. If you think you already know the information being preached walk out. Hang out in the lobby and talk to other people who are bored. That way you get in some fellowship. You can't have fellowship when only one person is speaking. The word paster means sheppard. Bringing someone to Christ isn't accomplished by dragging them to church where one guy is authorized to speak for God. That actually takes you out of the equation when you are the one that attracts them to Christ.

Now that I think of it people don't grow through the modern system either. Sure their is a lecture, but compare that to how much you'd grow if you had to lead someone to Christ and mentor them from born again till ashes to ashes. Relationships mature people. They get messy, and uncomfortable but you grow up. A really good paster is probably counter productive to spiritual growth. People come once a week to get fed and they think they are doing their part. What if they had to go looking for what God wanted to give them next?

Just some food for thought.

Repost: Faith in Action

2007-11-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

"Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will (1) loose the armor of kings,(2) to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; (Isaiah 45:1-2)

God promises Cyrus that He will open the gates of an otherwise impenetrable city for him. Most people would not know how to take a promise like that. They want to spiritualize it away. They want to delay it ‘til the future, preferably the after life. But Cyrus lived in the here and now and believed he was born for precisely that purpose... to subdue nations, not metaphorically, but in practical reality.

This brings me to the second point I wanted to make in the previous blog on this topic... Don't tell me what you believe... Show me! Or more to the point; don't try to impress God with your ability to quote His word back to Him. He's not impressed. He expects us to meditate on His word. What He is impressed with is faith. (Heb 11:6) Faith talks, but it also walks. If your faith doesn't have legs, if it doesn't take action in sync with your words, it's dead.

So here's my challenge to you: Meditate in God's Word. Press in. Let His Spirit impress upon your heart anything He chooses. Then act as if it applied to the here and now. One time in a parking lot of a state park, I was praying before work. A homeless mother and two children who lived in their car pulled in so she could sleep and the kids could play. I was concerned and approached the woman in her car, but she was already asleep in the back seat of her trashed out car.

The Lord let me see she was suicidal, but I didn't know what to do. I walked away and prayed. The Lord took me to Matthew 6:13 in the Lord's Prayer where it says, "Deliver us from evil". I knew God wanted to deliver this woman from the evil oppression she was under, but I wanted to just pray for her from across the parking lot and go back to work. When I asked the Lord if He wanted me to deliver her from evil, (to be the vessel He used to deliver her), He asked me if I saw anyone else in the parking lot?!?!

I knew He wanted me to act NOW on the Word. I did and within the hour she was born again, healed of an affliction and her friend who arrived on the scene also got born again on the spot! Moral of the story... Don't put off ‘til tomorrow what God intends for today!

Michael Q. Pink

I'm Not Here-You Can't See Me

2007-10-11T14:22:00.001-07:00

Incredible. What a self-indictment. “Nothing dangerous is happening here.” Those men have already been taken out because they’ve swallowed the Enemy’s first line of attack: “I’m not here—this is all just you.” You can’t fight a battle you don’t think exists. This is right out of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis has the old devil instruct his apprentice in this very matter:

My dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.

As for those who want to be dangerous (cutting-edge), take a close look at 1 Peter 5:8–9: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life? That you are under spiritual attack. This is not a passage about nonbelievers; he’s talking about “your brethren.” Peter takes it for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault. And what does he insist you do? Resist the devil. Fight back, take a stand.

(Wild At Heart , 159, 160)

Sharing Faith

2007-10-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

I woke today at 550am, thinking about sharing faith. It occurs to me that most groups that are militant about evangelism are actually trying to convert people to a "Christian" way of thinking, or worse "their" way of thinking.

The former is sharing a religion, the later is trying to win denominational converts, neither one is sharing the gospel.

Its tough when you think that this is all about how bad you were and how good you've become. I'm not a fan of that. For one thing, the only time it helps to tell someone how bad you were is if they feel beyond redemption. Most people are miserable, but unaware that redemption would help at all. So after we convince them that God forgives them no matter how bad they are we often follow it up with a description of God as a disapproving judge. Besides, we are all still human, and therefor, we continue to sin. If we use this method of evangelism we need to pretend like there's nothing wrong with our lives now that Christ is in it. We end up as posers and no one wants to listen to a poser.

We have been guilty of putting the great commission ahead of the first commandment. We have defined the great commission as "go and make disciples in every nation." The great commission is our Co-mission with Christ. Christ's mission statement is found in Luke 4:18, 19, when he quoted Isaiah,
18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

The key here is love. If you can't love God, yourself, and your neighbor, don't share the Gospel with him. You only end up abusing him. Truth without love is always abusive. If we share our faith without love its just another MLM (multilevel marketing) scheme--an exciting presentation followed by a haste decision.

Our testimonial should be, "here is who God is for me right now." Nothing is more important, when spreading the gospel then what we think about God. If you worship a God who is distant and angry that's what you'll share with people. If you are madly in love with a God whose been over our sin since before He made us, then you might have something to share.

2007-09-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool repost from our friends at afterlife.tv:

If you don't know them, they are committed to a vision of doing church differently. I'll try to dig up some of their awesome material on religion bytes. Totally inline with the philosophy of this blog.

Keep Going - Don't Stop!

Hebrews 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In the Greek Olympic games of old, a unique race was run. The winner was not the runner who finished first --- it was the runner who finished with his torch still lit!

There are times in our lives when we feel like we just can't continue in the race. These are precisely the times when the enemy loves to assault us to the point of breaking and torment us saying "You'll never make it to the finish line, you may as well just quit now". This is the time we need to cling on to God's promises! The Lord will soon reward our diligence for all our toiling here in this world. Paul said, "Let us not grow weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we do not faint".

Let's allow God's wonderful promises to strengthen and comfort us in each circumstance so that we can run the race --- not to finish first, but to run together, side by side --- the flame of our torch reaching the finish line blazing brightly with fire for Him!

Reflection Question's by Pastor Joe:

1. Have you grown weary?
2. Do you need to allow God's promises to strengthen and comfort you today?

Sample Prayer / Commitment:

"Dear God thank you for showing me that its not what place I finish that matters but that I finish...strengthen and comfort me today and help me to keep pressing on toward the finish line. In Jesus name, amen."

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post #4: Some Rambling about Church

2007-08-07T01:29:00.000-07:00

I created this site for a certain type of person—those who can’t stand the way we do church. Frankly I have more in common with those people than I do with the Christians I grew up around. I don’t want to dwell too long on that here but churches are full of sinful human beings that are searching for something. I’ve found something and quickly stopped attending. It’s not that I don’t think we need fellowship; it’s just that I think church is a terrible environment to get it.

When I found God again it wasn’t in a church but at a men’s retreat at a youth camp. I know people who first met God in a park, a base ball stadium, a car, a parking lot, at work, in a tent, an opera house, and a bar, but I have never met a person who met God in church. Well, in truth Mike Miller met God in church when he was young, but it was a revelation seminar. He was in the middle of pummeling a kid, and apparently smacked him so hard the kid invited him to church. Mike was so shocked he said yes. A week later his whole family got baptized. But I think that might be a rare instance.

I feel a little bad for some Christians who can’t imagine Christianity outside the confines of Church. I know I’ve made one cry once by talking about my ideas on the topic. God has not abandoned institutional Christianity though it doesn’t look like anything he’d have designed. Churches themselves are an amazing study into God’s willingness to meet us half-way. I hear people talk about the perfect will of God verses the permissive will of God and it seems a bit optimistic. This is a fallen world and it’s a bit difficult to believe that Gods perfect will is ever accomplished here.

It seems to me more likely that God respects our choices and works for good despite how little we understand Him. Perhaps the best thing Christians could do with their time right now is get to know God. Without that we have no context for all the other trappings of religion. We end up worshipping the regulations instead of God. We become frustrated when we bounce of the glass ceiling of our own misconceptions about God.

In closing let me say this, I don’t want to be negative in this blog but most of us would be so much more effective at reaching people if we just told people who God is for us right now. Graham Cooke is famous for saying God is the kindest person he’s ever met. Not a day goes by that God doesn’t do something kind for Graham. Now that’s a relevant thing to tell someone. That’s powerful, applicable, and timeless. It beats the socks off of, “Jesus is going to come and send anyone who isn’t perfect to hell.”

Sorry for the random rants, I’ll make it more positive next time.

Post #3: Poetry, Beauty, and the Gospel

2007-08-07T00:49:00.001-07:00

Now that I’ve posted #2 something has become clear to me. I’ve been working to synthesize my beliefs into something that can be easily stated in the hopes that it will have an impact on people who aren’t reached by standard Christianity. The reality I’m confronted with is that the more I pear away the less impact it has. Faith, spirituality and truth are intangible and must be gleaned from the midst of things like poetry, song, and sunsets. The truth isn’t out there, it’s written plainly in the subtext between the lines. It’s in the marginalia.

Have you ever seen a movie and thought it was stupid or boring and then later watched it again and really liked it? There is a veil that covers our eyes and we think we know what’s going on but we don’t. 2 Corinthians 3: 7-18 explains it brilliantly but that’s of little use if you don’t believe in the bible.

I know, I named this site Mere Faith so I might want to try to explain Christianity in its pure form. Especially considering all the frustration I express about the rules, regulations, and doctrines, which have clouded faith behind religion. But it’s truly confounding. How do I explain beauty to a blind person? If I study for years to explain to you exactly what H2O is you will know it in your mind, but it means nothing until you are dieing of thirst. Which are you when you seek God—the scientist or the man dieing of thirst?

Here’s the thing. You can make a religion out of anything. Music, politics, sports, you name it. What we don’t often consider is that the bulk of Christianity is a man-made religion. True spirituality is rare among Christians; we are too busy worshipping regulations. Rules and regulations are easy to explain and often comforting compared to the chaos of a godless universe.

So the task set before me is difficult. This site is dedicated to the intangible. You don’t need religion, that’s just the search for God, what you need is to meet God. You don’t need theology, that’s the study of God; it’s easier to ask God about Himself directly. The bible assures us that God is everywhere, all the time*. Just talk to Him.

If you want to know more about this topic check out the book, “Where’s God?” by Bill Jastram. Available through:
Tualatin Foursquare Church at 503-603-0303,
PO Box 1027
Tualatin, OR 97062
Tualatin4square@comcast.net

Texts referenced * Psalm 139: 7-10

Post #2 The Simplest I can State the Gospel

2007-08-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

The Gospel

A restating of Christianity as I see it

Christianity is a journey and a process that begins with rebirth and matures through several stages.

Christ’s life is not only true as written but it represents greater Truth as a whole. His work is broken into four parts.
1) Leaving heaven and being born into flesh to live perfectly.
2) Suffering and dieing on the cross for our sins.
3) Rising again from death, and walking again on earth.
4) Ascending to heaven where he intercedes for us.

His eventual return to earth to meet His bride is an outcome of His work.

1st The first part of his work represents relationship. That is key to fully understanding everything else He did. The purpose of living so long among other humans is to give ample opportunity to know people and be known by people at a very deep level.

2nd Christ meant it when He did the work of the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension. You really are dead to your old life. It was a counterfeit life anyway.

3rd You must follow Him into what you were designed to be. You were designed to be perfect and somewhere inside you desire to return to a perfect intimate walk with your creator. So this journey requires you to seek the desires of your heart. In Christ’s resurrection you grow into your place in His great commission. You must also learn God’s timing and rhythm.

4th Comes your place in the battle. In His ascension you are empowered to fight what is set against you. This is the path of warfare and deliverance, but it is also the path of healing and counseling. To heal someone is to fight for them. To share the Gospel with them is to set them free. To council them is to open their blind eyes.

The great commission is our co-mission with Christ. Christ claimed in Luke 4 that his mission statement was to—heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, set free the captive, and proclaim the day of the lord. Actually, He said He was anointed to do those things.

So this is the mission left to us, but not to us alone. We have each other and we have the Spirit of God to mentor us at all times. For some time many have claimed that our place was to introduce others to Christ and let Him do all the work in them. However, we are called the body of Christ which would support the idea that Christ will work though us to accomplish His mission.

As a person grows in Christ we should be less of a factor and Christ will work more and more directly. Therefore, I see the value in making a couple points here. If what we are doing as a religion doesn’t involve, healing, restoring, setting free and proclaiming Christ then it isn’t the real deal. The bible clearly states that “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” If anyone comes to you with a religion, or religious belief that isn’t about freedom and joy ignore them, that’s not Christianity.

These are rebellious statements to make in this day and age, but they must be said. Never let anyone tell you that your version of a relationship with God is less than their religious practices. I had a relationship with God long before returning to formal Christianity and the final lesson of it all has been that God wanted a relationship with me. I’ve had some great mentors but had I trusted my own relationship with God I could have cut years out of my training.

Nor should any of us let the hypocrisy of others be an excuse to not have our own relationship with God. I’m saying it plainly; every good thing you’ve been tempted to believe about God is true. He is too good to be true. Others may make it about so much more, I do it all the time because I put my relationship in the context of my own journey but it’s not needed. Have a relationship with God, that’s it. Let Him work out the details.

Post #1

2007-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

I have a crazy theory that athletes actually grow closer to God simply by virtue of the training. They get up everyday and follow their passion, take the risk of competing, and win or lose they have an identity that is derived in part from their physical being. That's a little superficial but it beats taking your identity from your job. Sure there are lots of non-athletes in a similar place but I've just always thought that athletes were in the process of learning about who they really are, which is a journey toward God. As I grow up I’m learning that many people are far ahead of me on the journey of self discovery without having a Christian Religious context to it.

I personally didn't find any traction in my attempts to learn who I was until I rediscovered God but that doesn't mean God isn't taking other people through exercises, and trials outside a religious context, which are actually all about God. God turns some people from a dependent into an ally before he introduces himself.

To people taking this different path to God I seem ultra-religious. I've become very holistic (non-western, non-compartmentalized) about my life. All of the things that I'm passionate about seem to me intrinsically wrapped in and around my faith. In fact the things that are moving farther from my faith walk are the things most people would consider as religious. I'm less churched than ever and I'm ever more irreverent by the day. I started rejecting dogma and now I don't give a hoot about most doctrine. I'm actually having a hard time calling myself a Christian at this point. Not because I don't love Jesus, but because He didn't call his followers that. The Greeks at Antioch started calling them Christians about 100 AD. I prefer to think of myself as a citizen in God's kingdom. I think it's important to believe in Christ but some who are saved won't know his name, so the most important thing is our relationship with God.

Anyway, it’s impossible for me to tell who is on a path toward a salvation and who isn't. Still there is a lot of suffering out there, and I want to do something about it. I’ve learned the hard way that we can easily ruin someone’s life by helping (enabling) them. Not everyone who crosses my path is mine to help. I have to pray and ask permission before I help or I will get in the way of what God is up to. The main thing I can give is grace and compassion.