I had the distinct honor of speaking to our church again yesterday morning. I am deeply grateful to my lead pastor, Steve Whipple, for making the investment in me and allowing me to develop as a teacher. The message is online here.
It's called a Tale of Two Kingdoms. It's a different take on the Tower of Babel as it sets within the context of the Big Picture. The Bible is One Story - the story of The Kingdom of God. But there is a counterfeit kingdom that opposes God's Kingdom and seeks to overthrow God's authority and forge a name for itself apart form God. Everyone of us, every day, is actively building one of these kingdoms or the other -- the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Self.
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Showing posts with label ipod sync prayer faith god jesus christ bible phillippians christian christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipod sync prayer faith god jesus christ bible phillippians christian christianity. Show all posts
Monday, August 1, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Post Preaching Blues
Recriminations. Second guessing. Self doubt.
"Did I say that right? Maybe I shouldn't have said that one thing. I forgot to say that other thing! Did I go too long?"
And so they come... the questions, the regrets, the feeling that you somehow failed to live up to the expectations. Everyone who has ever accepted the responsibility to preach knows what I mean. The second you step off the platform the voices start. It is, of course, the Enemy. He is a liar and the Father of Lies. The biggest lie the preacher believes is that it all depends on him. How well he communicated. How much research he did. How effective he was. How close to the allotted time he went.
The truth is that the Word is alive. It preaches itself if you let it. And here is the thing I miss so often: It continues to preach long after I stopped talking.
Today, I preached on Proverbs 3:5-6 -- trusting in God with your whole heart and not leaning o your own understanding. I was long. At least 45 minutes. Maybe longer. Immediately after I finished, the doubts and recriminations began. But this time I felt strangely at peace. It's a peace that had at its root the calm assurance that I had waited on God to tell me what to say. And I had been faithful to say it. Was it perfect? Hardly. But I was obedient. And when we obey, we trust God for the outcome.
So today, driving home from church, and all the voices started in questioning and second-guessing I felt the Spirit of God wash over me in a wave of peace and I heard this in my mind: "What happened, happened. It is what it is. Now let's see what God makes of it." Yes! That's it! "See what God makes of it." Because the Word doesn't stop working when the preacher stops talking. In fact, I believe that's when it just gets going.
Now... let's see what God makes of it.
"Did I say that right? Maybe I shouldn't have said that one thing. I forgot to say that other thing! Did I go too long?"
And so they come... the questions, the regrets, the feeling that you somehow failed to live up to the expectations. Everyone who has ever accepted the responsibility to preach knows what I mean. The second you step off the platform the voices start. It is, of course, the Enemy. He is a liar and the Father of Lies. The biggest lie the preacher believes is that it all depends on him. How well he communicated. How much research he did. How effective he was. How close to the allotted time he went.
The truth is that the Word is alive. It preaches itself if you let it. And here is the thing I miss so often: It continues to preach long after I stopped talking.
Today, I preached on Proverbs 3:5-6 -- trusting in God with your whole heart and not leaning o your own understanding. I was long. At least 45 minutes. Maybe longer. Immediately after I finished, the doubts and recriminations began. But this time I felt strangely at peace. It's a peace that had at its root the calm assurance that I had waited on God to tell me what to say. And I had been faithful to say it. Was it perfect? Hardly. But I was obedient. And when we obey, we trust God for the outcome.
So today, driving home from church, and all the voices started in questioning and second-guessing I felt the Spirit of God wash over me in a wave of peace and I heard this in my mind: "What happened, happened. It is what it is. Now let's see what God makes of it." Yes! That's it! "See what God makes of it." Because the Word doesn't stop working when the preacher stops talking. In fact, I believe that's when it just gets going.
Now... let's see what God makes of it.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Salt Ain't No Use in the Shaker!
This past weekend our lead pastor Steve Whipple was preaching on Matthew 5:13:
He talking about all the properties of salt and why Jesus would use it to describe what His people should be like. He talked about salt having a distinct flavor, that it created a thirst in people, it prevented the spread of corruption, and that it was also used as a fertilizer to promote growth. As I listened, a thought occurred to me about salt: It doesn't do a thing if it stays in the shaker!
For salt to do any of these things it has to leave the shelter of the shaker and go down into the thing it's effecting. It must come into contact with food to flavor it. It must come into contact with the meat if it is to preserve it and prevent it from rotting. It must be worked down into the soil for it to help promote growth. It cannot stay in the shaker if it is to be of any use at all.
Imagine someone asking you to pass the salt at the dinner table. You reach over and pass it to them. They take it and set the shaker down next to their plate. "No, no," you tell them. "You have to put it on your food." They pick up the shaker and set it on the food. "No, you have to actually turn it upside down and shake it until the salt comes out!"
Sounds silly but we do it all the time. Jesus called His followers "the salt of the earth," the flavor-enhancing, thirst-creating, corruption-preventing, growth-promoting agents of this world. How often do we mistake the presence of the shaker for the participation of the salt? If the shaker is the church building where we gather and become salty, then we will never be what God intends us to be unless we allow Him to turn our churches upside down and shake them until we are willing to go out into the world and actually be the salt of the earth.
Can you imagine salt refusing to come out of the shaker, no matter how you shake it? What would you do with that salt? Jesus said, "It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." (Matt. 5:13b, NASB) What is God doing to turn us upside down? What has He dome to shake us out? Is there some area of your life that He is challenging you to let go of? Is there some program or tradition or way of doing things that we are reluctant to change because that's how it's always been dome? Is there a need in your community that God has revealed to you, but it's outside of your comfort zone?
One word of warning about coming out of the shaker: You will not always be welcomed warmly. Another property of salt is that it stings and irritates when it comes into contact with a wound. Like the old song says:
Sometimes our saltiness will irritate and anger the wounded areas of a fallen world. We will inevitable be called upon to stop the spread of corruption in areas where sin and wickedness have become so accepted and even embraced that our presence will not be welcomed. We will be opposed. That's where one last important thought about salt comes into play.
Salt always works in group. When you apply salt do you ever use a single grain alone? Now, make no mistake, a single grain of salt possesses all the flavor and properties customary to salt. But it was not intended to work alone. Similarly, the New Testament knows nothing of a Christianity lived out in a vacuum. Jesus followers were created to live, work, play, and worship in communities. Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB) It's hard to love one another if you are all by yourself.
father, shake me. Turn my world upside down. Show me where I am needed. Use my life, my marriage, my family, my church to create in others a thirst for Jesus. use us to take a stand against the spread of corruption, even if it stings and irritates. Leverage us to help people come to know you more and grow more deeply in their relationship with You! In the precious and powerful name of Jesus, Amen!
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." (NASB)
He talking about all the properties of salt and why Jesus would use it to describe what His people should be like. He talked about salt having a distinct flavor, that it created a thirst in people, it prevented the spread of corruption, and that it was also used as a fertilizer to promote growth. As I listened, a thought occurred to me about salt: It doesn't do a thing if it stays in the shaker!
For salt to do any of these things it has to leave the shelter of the shaker and go down into the thing it's effecting. It must come into contact with food to flavor it. It must come into contact with the meat if it is to preserve it and prevent it from rotting. It must be worked down into the soil for it to help promote growth. It cannot stay in the shaker if it is to be of any use at all.
Imagine someone asking you to pass the salt at the dinner table. You reach over and pass it to them. They take it and set the shaker down next to their plate. "No, no," you tell them. "You have to put it on your food." They pick up the shaker and set it on the food. "No, you have to actually turn it upside down and shake it until the salt comes out!"
Sounds silly but we do it all the time. Jesus called His followers "the salt of the earth," the flavor-enhancing, thirst-creating, corruption-preventing, growth-promoting agents of this world. How often do we mistake the presence of the shaker for the participation of the salt? If the shaker is the church building where we gather and become salty, then we will never be what God intends us to be unless we allow Him to turn our churches upside down and shake them until we are willing to go out into the world and actually be the salt of the earth.
Can you imagine salt refusing to come out of the shaker, no matter how you shake it? What would you do with that salt? Jesus said, "It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." (Matt. 5:13b, NASB) What is God doing to turn us upside down? What has He dome to shake us out? Is there some area of your life that He is challenging you to let go of? Is there some program or tradition or way of doing things that we are reluctant to change because that's how it's always been dome? Is there a need in your community that God has revealed to you, but it's outside of your comfort zone?
One word of warning about coming out of the shaker: You will not always be welcomed warmly. Another property of salt is that it stings and irritates when it comes into contact with a wound. Like the old song says:
"We sting like salt in the wounds of a wounded world." (Wounded World, Jacob's Trouble)
Sometimes our saltiness will irritate and anger the wounded areas of a fallen world. We will inevitable be called upon to stop the spread of corruption in areas where sin and wickedness have become so accepted and even embraced that our presence will not be welcomed. We will be opposed. That's where one last important thought about salt comes into play.
Salt always works in group. When you apply salt do you ever use a single grain alone? Now, make no mistake, a single grain of salt possesses all the flavor and properties customary to salt. But it was not intended to work alone. Similarly, the New Testament knows nothing of a Christianity lived out in a vacuum. Jesus followers were created to live, work, play, and worship in communities. Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35, NASB) It's hard to love one another if you are all by yourself.
father, shake me. Turn my world upside down. Show me where I am needed. Use my life, my marriage, my family, my church to create in others a thirst for Jesus. use us to take a stand against the spread of corruption, even if it stings and irritates. Leverage us to help people come to know you more and grow more deeply in their relationship with You! In the precious and powerful name of Jesus, Amen!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Can't Entertainment Just.... Entertain?
This is a great question! It has a lot of bearing on our lives as we try to navigate and engage the culture we find ourselves in as Jesus followers. This came up in a conversation elsewhere on Facebook but the original post was deleted so I wanted to repost it here.
Someone asked the question, "Can't entertainment just be entertainment? can't Harry Potter just be a wizard and fly around on a broomstick? Does everything have to have a message?" He then went on to say that C.S. Lewis would call that nonsense or something like that (the original post was deleted so I can't quote it exactly).
CS Lewis most definitely would not say that about stories communicating messages whether we want them to or not. Not only Lewis, but such great Christian authors and thinkers as George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkein, Dorothy Sayer, and Madeleine L'Engle all believed there was a powerful connection between Story and the communication of Truth.
Understand that I am not not only talking about artists, authors, composers, and filmmakers who intentionally try to communicate theology. EVERY work of art communicates some worldview, even if the creator of that piece doesn't realize it. The best filmmakers know that, it's one of the reasons they get into filmmaking. They know they have a shot at shaping what people believe, at shaping our culture, our values, our THEOLOGY. But it doesn't require the creator's conscious participation. It happens because it is impossible for it NOT to happen.
Hollywood screenwriting teacher Robert McKee says, "Stories are equipment for living. We go to the movies because we hope to find in someone else's story something that will help us understand our own. We go to live in a fictional reality that illuminates our daily reality." (Quoted in Epic by John Eldredge).
That is the work that art does. That's why it's awesome. If you want to know what any given culture belives about God, about life, about itself, look at the art that culture produces.
A few examples, if you will indulge me, of some popular films and the message they communicate...
* Slumdog Millionaire: Everything happens for a reason. Love is stronger than anything.
* Avatar: All is God and God is all. (Pantheism, by the way, not fiction but an actual religion) Jack into the life force with your magic ponytail and get connected to the universe. To be fair, it also has some good things to say about engaging other cultures and accepting people's differences.
* Twilight: Romantic love is to be exalted above all else, even at the cost of your own soul. (Sorry, I calls 'em like I sees 'em.)
NOW... Having said that let me point out that I do not believe that just because you watch a movie you are buying into what it is selling. I don't think you are all zombies blindly accepting and acting out whatever a movie or story tells you. I confess, I like to listen to the occasional KISS tune but I don't really want to "rock and roll all night and party every day." But I would be foolish not to be aware that they are encouraging other people to do exactly that, to abandon their moral compass, to indulge in hedonistic behavior, and lose a lot of sleep. We cannot afford to be naive about this. We must practice discernment actively and diligently. As Proverbs says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
Listen, I'm not trying to be a party pooper here. I love entertainment as much as the next guy. But it is naive and foolish to simply open your mind to whatever a film or book or story in whatever medium is dishing out. That's what makes story-telling so significant and powerful. That is why film has risen to be arguably the single most powerful way to communicate truth -- as well as deception. Why do you think Jesus told parables that were fictional? Because He knew it would connect on a deeper level and have more of an impact than mere doctrinal statements. Our Enemy knows this too and we would do well to remember that.
Someone asked the question, "Can't entertainment just be entertainment? can't Harry Potter just be a wizard and fly around on a broomstick? Does everything have to have a message?" He then went on to say that C.S. Lewis would call that nonsense or something like that (the original post was deleted so I can't quote it exactly).
CS Lewis most definitely would not say that about stories communicating messages whether we want them to or not. Not only Lewis, but such great Christian authors and thinkers as George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkein, Dorothy Sayer, and Madeleine L'Engle all believed there was a powerful connection between Story and the communication of Truth.
Understand that I am not not only talking about artists, authors, composers, and filmmakers who intentionally try to communicate theology. EVERY work of art communicates some worldview, even if the creator of that piece doesn't realize it. The best filmmakers know that, it's one of the reasons they get into filmmaking. They know they have a shot at shaping what people believe, at shaping our culture, our values, our THEOLOGY. But it doesn't require the creator's conscious participation. It happens because it is impossible for it NOT to happen.
Hollywood screenwriting teacher Robert McKee says, "Stories are equipment for living. We go to the movies because we hope to find in someone else's story something that will help us understand our own. We go to live in a fictional reality that illuminates our daily reality." (Quoted in Epic by John Eldredge).
That is the work that art does. That's why it's awesome. If you want to know what any given culture belives about God, about life, about itself, look at the art that culture produces.
A few examples, if you will indulge me, of some popular films and the message they communicate...
* Slumdog Millionaire: Everything happens for a reason. Love is stronger than anything.
* Avatar: All is God and God is all. (Pantheism, by the way, not fiction but an actual religion) Jack into the life force with your magic ponytail and get connected to the universe. To be fair, it also has some good things to say about engaging other cultures and accepting people's differences.
* Twilight: Romantic love is to be exalted above all else, even at the cost of your own soul. (Sorry, I calls 'em like I sees 'em.)
NOW... Having said that let me point out that I do not believe that just because you watch a movie you are buying into what it is selling. I don't think you are all zombies blindly accepting and acting out whatever a movie or story tells you. I confess, I like to listen to the occasional KISS tune but I don't really want to "rock and roll all night and party every day." But I would be foolish not to be aware that they are encouraging other people to do exactly that, to abandon their moral compass, to indulge in hedonistic behavior, and lose a lot of sleep. We cannot afford to be naive about this. We must practice discernment actively and diligently. As Proverbs says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
Listen, I'm not trying to be a party pooper here. I love entertainment as much as the next guy. But it is naive and foolish to simply open your mind to whatever a film or book or story in whatever medium is dishing out. That's what makes story-telling so significant and powerful. That is why film has risen to be arguably the single most powerful way to communicate truth -- as well as deception. Why do you think Jesus told parables that were fictional? Because He knew it would connect on a deeper level and have more of an impact than mere doctrinal statements. Our Enemy knows this too and we would do well to remember that.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
In Sync with God
The other morning, I had the rare opportunity to drive my 15-year-old daughter, Whitney, to school. It was great to be able to spend a little time with her one on one without distractions or interruptions, just to find out what was going on in her life.
I knew she had been doing the student version of Experiencing God in her youth Bible study at church. So i asked her what she thought God was saying to her. I expected her to kind of think for a bit but to my surprise she answered right away: "I think God wants me to trust Him and not get stressed out so much in my life." Wow, I thought, my little girl is all growed up and hearing from God!
We talked for a while about what causes stress and I gave her my theory about why we stress out. I think I covered it here in an earlier post but the Cliff Notes version is basically this: We wake up every day with a set of expectations for the day -- things we expect to accomplish, the way we expect our day to go, how we expect things to work, etc. Stress happens when our day doesn't happen the way we expected. There is a tension between what we expect and what God actually gives us and that tension is called stress.
The way to avoid it, I told Whitney, would be to wake up and the very first thing you do would be to take all your expectations for the day and hand them over to God in prayer. Phillipians 4:6-7 says, "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." NLT
We began to talk about prayer, about what it is and what it is not. So many people treat prayer like it's a way to get what they want from God. They see it as a way to get God on their agenda, to meet their expectations. Rather, I told her, prayer is how we get on God's agenda, how we catch His heart and make it ours. It's how we sync our lives to God, I said. And that's when it hit me.
Suddenly in my mind's eye, I saw an iPod attached to a computer by that little cable. "Whitney," I said, "think about syncing your iPod to the computer. Let's say the computer represents God and the iPod is you. You want everything on the computer's library to be on your iPod, until it mirrors exactly what is stored on the computer. Now that little cable that connects the iPod to the computer is prayer. It is through that connection that you will be synced to God, He will download Himself into you, until you mirror Him exactly. Then as you go through your day, you are taking everything God is around inside you."
I don't know which one of us got more out of that illustration but she seemed to like it. Since that morning, though, that image of syncing my life to God's heart through prayer has been stuck in my head. Have you "synced" yourself to God today?
I knew she had been doing the student version of Experiencing God in her youth Bible study at church. So i asked her what she thought God was saying to her. I expected her to kind of think for a bit but to my surprise she answered right away: "I think God wants me to trust Him and not get stressed out so much in my life." Wow, I thought, my little girl is all growed up and hearing from God!
We talked for a while about what causes stress and I gave her my theory about why we stress out. I think I covered it here in an earlier post but the Cliff Notes version is basically this: We wake up every day with a set of expectations for the day -- things we expect to accomplish, the way we expect our day to go, how we expect things to work, etc. Stress happens when our day doesn't happen the way we expected. There is a tension between what we expect and what God actually gives us and that tension is called stress.
The way to avoid it, I told Whitney, would be to wake up and the very first thing you do would be to take all your expectations for the day and hand them over to God in prayer. Phillipians 4:6-7 says, "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." NLT
We began to talk about prayer, about what it is and what it is not. So many people treat prayer like it's a way to get what they want from God. They see it as a way to get God on their agenda, to meet their expectations. Rather, I told her, prayer is how we get on God's agenda, how we catch His heart and make it ours. It's how we sync our lives to God, I said. And that's when it hit me.
Suddenly in my mind's eye, I saw an iPod attached to a computer by that little cable. "Whitney," I said, "think about syncing your iPod to the computer. Let's say the computer represents God and the iPod is you. You want everything on the computer's library to be on your iPod, until it mirrors exactly what is stored on the computer. Now that little cable that connects the iPod to the computer is prayer. It is through that connection that you will be synced to God, He will download Himself into you, until you mirror Him exactly. Then as you go through your day, you are taking everything God is around inside you."
I don't know which one of us got more out of that illustration but she seemed to like it. Since that morning, though, that image of syncing my life to God's heart through prayer has been stuck in my head. Have you "synced" yourself to God today?
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