I will start with a thought that did not originate with me but seems so profound. I think the first time I heard it was from a Rob Bell teaching at a Youth Specialties conference in Nov. 2004. He spoke about an old rabbi saying that said, "in the beginning of Genesis God created light and dark, and then the rest of the Bible is teaching people how to discern between the two." Pretty profound, don't you think? I suggest you go to the Youth Specialties archives and see if you could get rob Bell's whole teaching from YWC Atlanta 2004. If you are a youth leader or parent it is one of those lessons that makes you go, "hhhmmmm?" Then you can discern for yourselves whether you agree with his teaching or not. Of course you can read Rob Bell's book, "Velvet Elvis" for a really thorough teaching. This is not a commercial for Rob Bell, but sometimes good men should get props for writing profound thoughts. Of course, if you heard Rob Bell's teaching in Atlanta then he wouldn't of even minded if I plagiarized his teaching as my own.
Discernment... there seems to be such a fine line between discernment and being judgemental in so many Christian circles. Using Brent's experience with his son Ethan watching "Dora the Explorer." What a cool bonding time between father and son, and pure fun in their situation and I don't find anything wrong in what they did, but I think discernment go far deeper than making a judgement for the sake of laughs. Judging the differences between good and evil and then walking away unchanged is foolish. Of course I am talking about meatier decisions than the redundant antics of Dora.
What's the next Question?:
Let's use Brent and Ethan's Dora example, but we will add more mature reasoning skills than a 6 or 7 year old can handle. We have an experience where we have a teachable moment where we see discernment being used we must then as the next question. "Ethan, now that you see how brainless this show is, what do you think you should do about watching it?" Remember, we are not really talking about Dora." But replace Ethan with a 17 year old and replace Dora with "One Tree Hill", or The Pussy Cat Dolls, or some H, blow, weed, Superbad...... Once we can get someone to admit that something is light or dark we then must ask the next question of what they want or need to do with that information.
I probably don't need to say it, but I will say it anyway: My response is not about Brent and Ethan, but using a familiar story to help make a point. Truthfully I cannot wait until the day I am sitting on the couch with a son joking around about a cartoon; but in the same breath, when a vital teachable moment comes up 10 years later with the same son I hope I ask the right questions.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Careful, Shmareful!
"Be Careful for what you pray for" has got to be my least favorite Christian cliche. Not only is the theology behind it bad, but it causes us to pray smaller.
Matthew 7: 7-11
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though
you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Everything that God gives us is something that is going to be beneficial for our lives. Because of Grace, even when we are imperfect with the things that we ask for God will give us exactly what we need. If you are anything like me, most of your prayer requests will be either unanswered or comeback with an answer "NO!" We constantly ask God for things that we think are good ideas, but by his omniscient wisdom he does not honor those requests because he is looking out for our best interests.
I think a part of grace is God letting us fumble around with our prayers, and even when we get the prayers a little wrong, or ask for the wrong thing He will still make sure that we get the right thing. I do believe though that most times this may be conditional with how attached we are to the Vine. When we are walking out of His will and we ask for things that are not healthy for us, we may just end up with what we wanted. I do not think it was the fact that God gave us what we wanted as much as the consequences of living a life outside the will of God.
We shouldn't be careful what we pray for, but we should bring everything to God in prayer. Our pray lives should be filled with craziness and boldness. We can't think bigger than God, and "He will do more than we can ask or imagine".
Isn't that what living an abundant life is all about? Being in God's will, then asking for the power and resources to do crazy stuff for Him. If it will help our growth and Him using us to advance His Kingdom, then I think we will get what we want. If we ask for something that in the end we would not be able to handle and it would be detrimental to our life and/or our Walk then I can assure you that we won't get a positive answer for that request. So I guess in the end it is better to pray with craziness than with caution because we will only receive the very best from God.
Matthew 7: 7-11
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and
you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be
opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though
you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Everything that God gives us is something that is going to be beneficial for our lives. Because of Grace, even when we are imperfect with the things that we ask for God will give us exactly what we need. If you are anything like me, most of your prayer requests will be either unanswered or comeback with an answer "NO!" We constantly ask God for things that we think are good ideas, but by his omniscient wisdom he does not honor those requests because he is looking out for our best interests.
I think a part of grace is God letting us fumble around with our prayers, and even when we get the prayers a little wrong, or ask for the wrong thing He will still make sure that we get the right thing. I do believe though that most times this may be conditional with how attached we are to the Vine. When we are walking out of His will and we ask for things that are not healthy for us, we may just end up with what we wanted. I do not think it was the fact that God gave us what we wanted as much as the consequences of living a life outside the will of God.
We shouldn't be careful what we pray for, but we should bring everything to God in prayer. Our pray lives should be filled with craziness and boldness. We can't think bigger than God, and "He will do more than we can ask or imagine".
Isn't that what living an abundant life is all about? Being in God's will, then asking for the power and resources to do crazy stuff for Him. If it will help our growth and Him using us to advance His Kingdom, then I think we will get what we want. If we ask for something that in the end we would not be able to handle and it would be detrimental to our life and/or our Walk then I can assure you that we won't get a positive answer for that request. So I guess in the end it is better to pray with craziness than with caution because we will only receive the very best from God.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
"Priorities' -- Insights
Faith like a child. We all have said the same thing that Ethan (Brent's son) had said many times in our Walk, but I think the difference is the fact that Ethan actually believes what he says. I am not saying that our words aren't as truthful, but we have greater chances in our lives to prove that we love other things more than God.
Two children in my family have just undergone major medical surgeries. The first one is my nephew Logan (age 5) who has Cerebral Palsy. His procedure was a 5-7 hour journey into Logan's spinal cord,, where the doctor poked and prodded around, and then severed 58% of the spastic sensory nerves going down to his legs. Logan expected to walk when he woke up from the ordeal. Instead, 5 days later he still had not taken a step and was bound to a wheel chair. The difference between him and me was the fact that he was singing praise songs (which he makes up himself). He does this because he still loves God even though he couldn't walk yet. A grown up like myself would be singing the same song, not because we feel it, but because we know we should and maybe this will convince God that we are a good candidate for a blessing. Yes, a sign of mature Christianity is praising God even in the storms, so don't stop even if your faith is not like a child's.
Gavin is my cousins 2 year old son. Diagnosed two weeks ago with a brain tumor. Had the tumor taken out and now has a long prescription of cancer treatment (IE. radiation and chemo). My Cousin and his wife are devastated, and for good reason. One night last weekend Gavin's mom walked into his hospital room (3am ) and saw Gavin upright holding his arms out. Heather, his mom, asked him what he was doing and he replied, "I am hugging the angel." I think it takes faith like a child to make what is invisible, visible. Priorities, even in the midst of his storm he is embracing God's messenger.
Logan is walking and Gavin needs your prayers. The update tonight for Gavin isn't as good as his family would want. He needs all of our prayers. Most of the time I do not understand God's providence, and I really don't think any of us care to figure it out. In this case I think we need to be like a child and expect God to do what only God can do. Isn't that what we expect dads to do?
I guess faith like a child is: to tell everyone that God is more important than everyone else (Luke 14:26); to praise God when we are in pain and can't function (Psalm 42:5); and to embrace divinity when we don't know or comprehend what the outcome will or should be for our lives.
Two children in my family have just undergone major medical surgeries. The first one is my nephew Logan (age 5) who has Cerebral Palsy. His procedure was a 5-7 hour journey into Logan's spinal cord,, where the doctor poked and prodded around, and then severed 58% of the spastic sensory nerves going down to his legs. Logan expected to walk when he woke up from the ordeal. Instead, 5 days later he still had not taken a step and was bound to a wheel chair. The difference between him and me was the fact that he was singing praise songs (which he makes up himself). He does this because he still loves God even though he couldn't walk yet. A grown up like myself would be singing the same song, not because we feel it, but because we know we should and maybe this will convince God that we are a good candidate for a blessing. Yes, a sign of mature Christianity is praising God even in the storms, so don't stop even if your faith is not like a child's.
Gavin is my cousins 2 year old son. Diagnosed two weeks ago with a brain tumor. Had the tumor taken out and now has a long prescription of cancer treatment (IE. radiation and chemo). My Cousin and his wife are devastated, and for good reason. One night last weekend Gavin's mom walked into his hospital room (3am ) and saw Gavin upright holding his arms out. Heather, his mom, asked him what he was doing and he replied, "I am hugging the angel." I think it takes faith like a child to make what is invisible, visible. Priorities, even in the midst of his storm he is embracing God's messenger.
Logan is walking and Gavin needs your prayers. The update tonight for Gavin isn't as good as his family would want. He needs all of our prayers. Most of the time I do not understand God's providence, and I really don't think any of us care to figure it out. In this case I think we need to be like a child and expect God to do what only God can do. Isn't that what we expect dads to do?
I guess faith like a child is: to tell everyone that God is more important than everyone else (Luke 14:26); to praise God when we are in pain and can't function (Psalm 42:5); and to embrace divinity when we don't know or comprehend what the outcome will or should be for our lives.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
"Amplify"-- Intentional Amplification Insight
.
"Intentional Amplification"
These are the first two words that came to my mind after reading Brent's "Amplify" Lesson Learned article. It seems like in today's world, and especially in today's church, people usually have the "amps" facing in or they are facing out, but too often we don't see the skilled Christian being able to do both very well.
"Amps Always Facing In Person/Church" is very good at ministering to the faithful saints. They have a lifestyle or a ministry program that is geared towards building up a believer, but are very weak in going out beyond the church walls. Their mission field is the person in the mirror or the proverbial choir. A good mental image of this are those hard bodies that seem to live at the gym every free moment, and their only purpose of being there is to get stronger. Their body image is everything to them, and their is no deeper purpose in the strength they gain. Wasted exercise! They spend so much time on themselves that they never have time to use their incredible strength.
"The other extreme is a "Amps Always Facing Out Person." They have all of the motivation to do incredible things in the name of God, but they don't know how to do it. Two verses pop out in my mind. "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way" (Proverbs 19:2); and "It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you" (Galatians 4:18). Can you imagine yourself trying to play professional football without spending years in the gym first? In my best fantasies I would love to play football for a living. Even if they let me play. I would get crushed or killed the first time I was tackled.
Over and over again we see this in the Bible and even in the modern church. Does "Seven Sons of Sceva" ring a bell. Here was a priest and a bunch of guys who tried to mimic what Paul was doing by driving out demons, and they all were beaten up by the demon possessed man. What the evil spirit said was most profound. "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding" (Acts 19:15-16). Then in 1 Corinthians 13, if we do not have the purpose of love, then everything we do sounds like nonsense to the outside world. " If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
These zealous people always have the amps facing out that they never know how they sound to the rest of the world. Having the amps facing in is the time we spend learning who Christ is, how we can become like Him in Character, and then learning how to act like Him. After this, then we can turn our amps around and actual do what Christ did. You CANNOT do one or the other. There are times in life when you have to intentional keep the amps facing in (discipleship), and then there are times when we have to take what we know and face it out (ministry and missions). "Faith without works is dead"!
Where are your amps facing?
Which way should they be facing right now?
.
"Intentional Amplification"
These are the first two words that came to my mind after reading Brent's "Amplify" Lesson Learned article. It seems like in today's world, and especially in today's church, people usually have the "amps" facing in or they are facing out, but too often we don't see the skilled Christian being able to do both very well.
"Amps Always Facing In Person/Church" is very good at ministering to the faithful saints. They have a lifestyle or a ministry program that is geared towards building up a believer, but are very weak in going out beyond the church walls. Their mission field is the person in the mirror or the proverbial choir. A good mental image of this are those hard bodies that seem to live at the gym every free moment, and their only purpose of being there is to get stronger. Their body image is everything to them, and their is no deeper purpose in the strength they gain. Wasted exercise! They spend so much time on themselves that they never have time to use their incredible strength.
"The other extreme is a "Amps Always Facing Out Person." They have all of the motivation to do incredible things in the name of God, but they don't know how to do it. Two verses pop out in my mind. "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way" (Proverbs 19:2); and "It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you" (Galatians 4:18). Can you imagine yourself trying to play professional football without spending years in the gym first? In my best fantasies I would love to play football for a living. Even if they let me play. I would get crushed or killed the first time I was tackled.
Over and over again we see this in the Bible and even in the modern church. Does "Seven Sons of Sceva" ring a bell. Here was a priest and a bunch of guys who tried to mimic what Paul was doing by driving out demons, and they all were beaten up by the demon possessed man. What the evil spirit said was most profound. "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding" (Acts 19:15-16). Then in 1 Corinthians 13, if we do not have the purpose of love, then everything we do sounds like nonsense to the outside world. " If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."
These zealous people always have the amps facing out that they never know how they sound to the rest of the world. Having the amps facing in is the time we spend learning who Christ is, how we can become like Him in Character, and then learning how to act like Him. After this, then we can turn our amps around and actual do what Christ did. You CANNOT do one or the other. There are times in life when you have to intentional keep the amps facing in (discipleship), and then there are times when we have to take what we know and face it out (ministry and missions). "Faith without works is dead"!
Where are your amps facing?
Which way should they be facing right now?
.
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