Sunday, July 14, 2013

Coffee church.

What is church?

The first definition from Merriam-Websters is "a building for public and especially Christian worship"

The Bible describes church as a gathering of Gods people in his name.
(Acts 2:42)
The function of the church gathering is to equip the saints for the work of God
(Eph 4:11-12)

Is how we function as the church in keeping with worldly standards or biblical ones?

I asked a friend who is having a hard time with coming to weekend services why he doesn't come oftain. His reason was that they are boreing. When he started talking about the group he is apart of that meets weekly and discusses Gods word together, prays and shares a meal he was passionate and he discribed his time as life changing and relevant.

Which defenition of church was he describing for positive impact?

This next model is not something I came up with on my own but read about.

How would you feel if on a Sunday morning you came to your regular weekend service to find not rows of chairs or pews but round tables with eight chairs in a horse shoe pattern facing the stage?
As the musicians came on the scene it was business as usual followed by a sermon that was shorter then usual and followed by, wait for it, a set of three questions on the overhead screen and 30 min of dissusion time.

Would you as a regular weekend service attender come back?

Would you bring a friend or co-worker who is unchurched?

As the church are we taking time to raise up people who are good sitters and listeners or are we raising up a people who know what God says and are doing it.

If church is about listening and watching for an hour and a half how can we expect Christians to know how to answer questions at work and at home about who God is and why he is relevant?

Equipping the saints isn't just about giving instruction it's about creating opportunity for hands on gift use.

Church is not supposed to be a spectator sport but it sure looks like it from the back of a service.

Is the model for church stuck in a two sense (listening and seeing) expression in 5 sense body?

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Validation

Merriam-Webster. Definition describes it as follows:

To recognize, establish, or illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy of.

I didn't grow up feeling validated by my dad and therefore sought it out from other men in my life, only to be let down by their imperfection.

Recognition.

When we are validated we are seen as being able.

It's THE QUESTION

"Do I have what it takes?"

Who has the perspective to say yes or no to that?

Establish.

Physics tells us a strong base or foundation is key to successful structure.

If that is true then the lack of an established base effects the success of in this case a boy becoming a man.

Who can build a boy to become a man?

Illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy.

Bringing to light the worth of something comes from knowing what that worth is can a person see the worth of another, I mean really see it?

Giving evidence of something requires knowledge of something.

Can we show evidence to another of how their being alive has worth with our human understanding?

I began to realize recently that I needed to find validation from my heavenly father and from Him alone.

I had been seeking worth, recognition and establishment from people and found I wasn't having my needs met.

Easy solution no human input only God input.

Hold on.

There is a reason that God chose to put human beings togeather in family units that make up communities we need something from each other.

But how do we balance the need for friends, leaders and peers building into us and the need to be established and built by God?

A new word has come into my space CONFIRMATION it's a powerful word.

Merriam-Webster defines it as follows:

The process of supporting a statment by evedence.

I see the need to have confirmations by those God has placed in our lives to support us in understanding what God has called us to and equipped us for.

Without confirmation we can be led into a place where we don't see enough of what's going on.

If we are moving in a direction without confirmation about what we are doing we can fall prey to pride and foolish action.

Our worth cannot be tied to what people think of us but are actions are needing to be subject to confirmation to help us.

I believe our God and Father who called us and establishes us will confirm his plan and direction from those he has put into our lives even if they don't know him personally.

Take away till next time.

Say this with me out loud.

I am established and given worth only by God my Father who sees me wholly.
No person can make or break me.

I need godly fellowship around me to confirm my gifts, talents and abilities to strengthen and support me so I can live out Gods purposes in my life with success.

Validated by your Heavenly Father.
Confirmed by those He's placed around you.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Easter part 3. Scars

I have scars, I have two on my head from accidents and one on my side where my appendices was taken out. They are evidence of trama done to my body.

I have other scars to but you can't see them scars of things done to me that brought trama that in the doing left no sign and yet cut deeper and hurt more then all three physical incidences put togeather. We all have scars like that, scars of words without thought or with great intent.

We all know the emotional wounds that leave scars on our hearts and yet as I have processed my way through so much healing the scars that I have had the hardest time coming to terms with are not the ones I bear but the ones I have left on others.

You know what I'm talking about, we have all said and done things to others that have cut deep and left scars on those around us.

I have been moved as I have traveled the road toward the cross this year to look at the scars my actions have caused.

I have realised that this year what I needed to leave at the cross was my guilt and shame for the scars I have left on you and others I have met.

In Matthew 20:25,27 we learn that Jesus had scars from his time on the cross that stayed with his resurrected body. I think it was a reminder for those he encountered that it cost him something to hang there and yet as I have looked these last months at my scars and the scars I have given I can't help but realise that they don't matter. Not really, not any more because the scars that Jesus kept remind me today that I don't have to keep mine as reminders and I dont have to be ashamed of those I gave because his scars are the payment for both sets.

I have been asking what has God been asking you to give up this Easter at the cross and this is it for me.
I am giving up the scars I have given and the scars I have received and I am saying they don't matter not anymore because my savior kept his so I didn't have to keep mine.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter part 2. Grace.

What is Grace anyways.

In his book "What's So Amazing About Grace" author Phillip Yancey tells a story that is hard to hear.
It's about a woman who has been renting out her two year old daughter. He is shocked, overwhelmed and asks "why didn't you go to the church for help?" The reply is worse then the actions of the mother "why would I go there?" She retorts "They would just make me feel worse"

Hopelessness leads to horrible acts but the grace of God is bigger then both.

Grace is giving love that could not be earned to those who don't even want it.

I have been wrestling with the concept and the application of grace in my life this last while.

As a Christian I think about grace as a gift, a gift from God in the form of Jesus making a way out of death into life by his death I understand that grace is free and I realize that it cost Jesus his life to give it but until recently I didn't realize there is a flip side to grace a side which as a broken per christian I never had reason to acknowledge and as an immature christian I didn't encounter.

My need to give Grace.

Grace given in accordance to Gods measuring cup means without reason, without end and without reserve.

Grace given this way changed my whole life it changed the world and it is still changing the world.

Grace costs the giver everything.

Nothing in life is free, nothing of value is free so of course grace can't be free not really.

Grace is a free gift to receive but not to give. That truth hits me so hard that sometimes I can't breath.

This last while God has been asking me if I am willing to give grace as it has been given to me, lavishly, shamelessly, without thought of reciprocation?

I have recently started the process of restoring relationship with my mom it's been about eight years since the relationship crashed.

My grace is enough is all I would get from God when I asked him how I was supposed to make headway toward restoration do I want this enough to fight in the face of her not wanting me back, it's been harder then I could have imagined.

"My grace is enough"

When the Holy Spirit told this to Paul he was telling him "No" to release from "a thorn in the flesh" a tormentor in Paul's life.

The message to Paul then is true for me now. The trial is here its not going away and my grace will sustain you but it will also be the thing that will be the corner stone for the work that God is doing in my life, as it was for Paul.

The flip side of grace is the cost of giving it, everything.

If I truly am a follower of Christ and called to be as he is and do as he does then I have to give grace as he does and as oftain as he does.

Jesus gave everything to us on the cross and he did it knowing we may not accept it and even scorn his gift.

As a crucifier of my savior I spit into the face of that gift for years and saw the love never ending poured out from his heart through his body here on earth, the church, and it's now my turn to show grace.

It's Easter now and this weekend we take time to acknowledge our saviors death and resurrection and the hope it gave to us and the grace he gave and gives.

Ask yourself what is required of me now that I see how much grace was given and at such a cost.

This Easter what is God asking of you?

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Easter part 1. Faith.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

(Hebrews 11:1-3, 6 TNIV)

What makes us up (atoms) is held together by something we cannot see.

Do I have faith to believe that what God says is true and do I see things as God does or do I just see it from my perspective?

When I trust that what God says is true and start to look at my mountains from his perspective I know that a mustard seed amount of faith is more then enough to do all I am called to do.

So why do I doubt?

Why do I sway from the truth that everything I am called to do I have the streanghth to do?

Why do I live in fear that I don't have what it takes?

I think for me and most likely others too its because we don't see God correctly.

We don't see him as a all loving, all powerful father we have been warped by poor relections of love and provision.

We also don't see ourselves correctly.

We have been built up and torn down by validating and unvaladating. We don't see that God the all powerful and all knowing one has given us a promise.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b NIV)

This promise was given after the great commission was given a mission we would not do alone so I feel the verse fits for other contexts of knowing our God is with us when he calls us to something.

On my journey to the cross this year I felt that God has been asking me to give up some stuff to Him and embrace my calling as a servent and a missionary of his gospel of hope.

That takes great faith, knowing who He is and knowing who he has made me to be.

What is the King asking you to do this Easter?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

The One.

Out of every Hundred men,
Ten shouldn’t even be there,
Eighty are just targets,
Nine are the real fighters,
and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle.
Ah, but the One,
The One is a warrior
And He will bring the others back.

-- Heraclitus

I first read this about two years ago. I have always felt there was something to this.

I see three kinds of men layed out in this quote. Men who don't have direction or passion, men who have passion but no direction and men who have both and the ability to teach others how to have both. The One has two roles as the Knight and the Guardian.

The One is a warrior. (The Knight)

Men with passion but no direction(the nine)are common place I see it everywhere they know they have strength to offer but for the life of them they can't seem to figure out what the area is that would best suit them.

Sound familiar?

Strength under control turns a man from a brawler(fighter) to a knight (warrior).

A knight has a cause that is worth giving his life for, unto death. It's more then a battle it's more then an adventure it's a whole way of living.
If you were to live like your life was in service to those around you would your life look different?

A knight lives in service to his king and serving the king means serving the people.
Knights also have training that can be passed on they have Pages and Squires for that reason.
Pages and Squires may be adults or boys in a knights life.

Who is in your life that needs raising up?

The fulfillment of this role is that your passion and desire becomes the kings(Jesus) passion and desire, to serve those around you and to lend your strength to raising up those around you.
When your direction and passion come from the king then you move from being a fighter to a warrior.

And He (The One) will bring the others back. (The Guardian)

To rescue men who have no passion or direction you have to understand what it means to have been rescued.

You have to come to terms with the fact that you were without direction and without passion and you were invited into a story that was bigger then you and told that you had what it took enought times to silence the voices of discouragement.

It may have happened growing up or as a grown up but somewhere masculinity was bestowed to you as you fellowshiped with men.

The idea of the guardian came from a movie of that title.
It was in the company of a man (Kevin Costner) who had walked the road of loss that recovery was possible for young Jake. (Ashton Kutcher).

The fulfillment of this role is that you don't just leave people in their brokenness and dispair you go after them and rescue them bring them back to the shepherd(Jesus) to be cared for and healed.
Just as Jesus left the ninty-nine to save the one.

To summarize the One lives in service to those around him through discipleship and sacrifice, as a knight and as a guardian never leaves behind those who are in need of love and care.
So Jesus lived and so we must if we are to call him brother and king.