random rantings…coming

I’m too tired to finish the random rantings post I started.. so I’ll be getting to it later today. In the mean time this picture could possibly beg a caption:

when does it end?

Not to long ago I watched a documentary on photographer Marcus Halabi. One particularly disturbing portions of the documentary was when Halibi talked about a photograph he took of a woman drowning in the ocean. It was disturbing. The woman was standing on an embankment on the ocean. She was on a smoke break from the bar she worked at near the beach. As she watched the waves while smoking her cigarette, a giant wave came and swept her into the water. Marucs photographed this. He was 50 feet from her and had a choice. Save her, or keep taking pictures. 200 feet away were two men, one a lifeguard. He saw them running so he kept taking pictures, even though he could have gotten there first. The men running to the woman were a half second to late. As the one man reached out to grab her hand a 20 foot wave swelled and took her away. She died. Marcus documented the whole thing with his camera, he could have saved her. Instead he just watched.

Every time I stand in line at the grocery store, or turn on the news and hear another crazy report about Britney Spears’ mental breakdown over the last couple of months, I can’t help but feel like Marcus Halabi. I can’t help but feel like we are standing on the shore watching this woman get swept away, without doing anything to help save her. Do a little blog search and the only thing people find in her whole ordeal is entertainment. They love to watch though they could help.

At what point do we as a society stand by and enjoy watching people’s lives literally fall apart. Sure the personal life of Brittany Spears is of no business of mine. But it’s everywhere I turn. I go get gas, groceries, clothes, the headlines tell the story.

I don’t have a solution to this matter, but I wish I did. I wish I had the opportunity to minister to Brittany and share the gospel with her. But I don’t, so I pray.

I’m requesting one thing from all of you who read: Any time you hear or see news about Brittany pray for her.

Turn Signal…

Greetings folks,

I have a few things for you. First I want to give you a turn signal… Ok, I don’t have a few things for you… I was just trying to be Matt Candler. Don’t get it? Don’t worry, you’ll be ok. Over the next few months I’m going to be going through I John. Not every day, or even every post. But a couple of weeks I will revert back to this book. I hope to go systematically through the whole book verse by verse. We’ll see how it goes.

I love the book of I John. Because I love what it has to say about Jesus. I love what it has to say about overcoming the world. I’m really excited about it! So look for it!

Mark Driscoll on the Emergent Church

Mark brings some interesting points about the Emergent Church. He articulates it the way I feel about it. I appreciate Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill quite a bit. We need men like them in these days.

click here to view it:

http://www.marshillchurch.org/sermonseries/religionsaves/week_08.aspx

Like drop what you are doing and watch it. really good. Especially at the end… He goes off about Jesus… made me cry.

The evidence of Christ’s activity

I’ve gotten a wonderful opportunity recently to start writing for IHOP’s new youth (jr. high and high school) website. here is an article I’m working on for it.

In the church today there are many ways or, barometers if you will, that we try to use to see if Christ is active in our lives. In church history many people have looked in many different ways to see God’s activity. The Desert Fathers in the 300s tested it by how much persecution and self mortification they encountered. The early Catholic Church tested God’s evidence by the number of nations that were under the leadership of the Pope. In the 1656 the Quakers tested it by how much their body “quaked” and shook during their worship gatherings. The Wesley’s in the same time frame measured it by the number of salvations and the evidence of revival. Today churches measure it by the amount of money their church brings in. Charismatic circles have taken after the Quakers, and desired to see God’s evidence through prophecies and manifestations. On and on we as a people are desperate to know the activity of the one who gave us life when we were dead.

So how do we know when God is active? It’s simple, when we see the fruits of the spirit evident in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If you grew up in the church you hear “fruits of the spirit” and undoubtedly an image of a banana labeled “faithfulness” comes to mind. However these are not simply cute attributes used as an excuse to give kids snacks in Sunday school, these are the evidences of Christ’s activity in our lives.

A catholic monk named Saint Bernard of Clairvaux once said something very interesting concerning this subject. He said God is often active in our lives, but “feeling” something physically rarely happens. Instead he compared life to a kettle of water over a fire. He said we know that the flame of the Holy Spirit is active when our pot begins to bubble with the fruits of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace etc. Wonder if God is active in your life? Your life itself is your evidence. Do you find yourself more easily loving your family? Are you more patient with you class mates? Is it easier to resist sin? Yes, then you have your evidence. The resurrection power of Christ is forever at work within you. Not seeing those fruits active? Don’t fret, or get down on yourself. Simply ask God to give you grace, and you will begin to see the change within you.

Remember that it’s by grace that you are saved, not by doing what is right. It’s by grace that we are sustained in Christ. We don’t have the ability to become better people, or do good things. But the Holy Spirit in us, Christ in us, has the ability to sustain us from sin. Galatians 5:16,
“But I say walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Christ in us has the ability to produce the fruit of Love and Joy within us. See God is active in your life much more than you think, and if you need Him you can always petition him. You have an advocate! You have a person who pleads on your behalf, his name is Christ Jesus and his spirit lives within you. (Col.1:27) Have a problem with looking at thing you shouldn’t on the internet? Have a problem with talking about people behind their backs? Ask the spirit of the living God within you for grace to stay pure. I promise you that in his strength you can overcome, and you will see his activity in your life when the temptation subsides.

The beauty in all of this is we become better worshipers. When you are struggling with obeying your parents and listening to their advice and you pray for patience and goodness. Then you see it come and you glorify God. Your heart will develop a greater love for God when you see his activity in your life. You don’t have to feel anything, you don’t have to shake or quake on the ground, you don’t have to have a dream or a vision, though those things are cool; God is active always.

I encourage you this week, begin to look at those things you struggle with, take them to God and ask for His grace to sustain you, then see what happens. It may take a week or two to really notice, but you will see that your appetites for those things are starting to fade. When you see the evidence of his activity in your life, give Him glory. In fact give him glory always! He took your sinful soul and made you alive. You deserve Hell but He gave you life. Blessed be his name, we will live forever with him! One day we will live in his kingdom, where there will be no more death, no more crying , no more pain, and we will always be with the Lord. He is always active in your life; you just have to remember where to look.

C.M.: I won’t respect your beliefs

Welcome back to Controversy Monday: set… hike!

Ok so the subject line could mean many different things. But it was a bit of a bombastic statement because on Controversy Monday, bombastic statements are what it’s all about. So I’ll clarify:

I think it’s necessary to respect people, and love people. However when it comes to truth that could send them to hell, in love I can’t respect their beliefs. Love means you tell them that they are wrong in the kindest way possible. I’ll give you and example.

When I was home in Phoenix a few weeks ago I ran into an old High School friend I knew from my church youth group. His name I’ll change so as not to divulge his identity publicly, we’ll call him… Jim. I was at a coffee shop in downtown Tempe that I used to frequent when I lived in Phoenix. Jim just so happened to work at said coffee shop. He was so excited to see me and hear I was in full time ministry. He took a break, and we sat down for a chat. He told me about how he had fallen away from the faith after High School and became a heroin addict. But in the last few months, thanks to his AA group (I think it was AA or whatever AA group drug addicts go to) He had gotten delivered from drugs. He said it was a very spiritual experience and God had really “hooked him up” with a crazy spiritual experience to get free. I rejoiced with him that he was free from drugs but his verbiage worried me a bit. I asked him, “So are you back walking with the Lord now?” He said “Well kinda, I’m not to into Jesus. But I love God, and I feel happy and that’s all that really matters right?” I shrieked back inside, knowing I was going to have to tell him the truth. By this time another friend of mine named James, had joined the conversation. James is a worship leader at a local church and his name has also been changed to hide his identity. James looked at me and gave me the ‘cool out’ signal. He then looked at Jim and said,”Well you know you are entitled to believe what you wish. I’ll respect that.” I wasn’t angry, I was just deeply concerned, and ok fuming a little. I stopped James and said, “Jim, you can believe that if you wish, but as one who loves Christ, I have to tell you the truth… If you don’t believe in Jesus, if you don’t love him, because I care about you, I have to tell you this; You will burn in Hell when you die. You must choose Christ, or you will perish eternally” James was mortified, Jim gulped. Later as I left James grabbed me, furious for not respecting Jim’s beliefs. He told me that mentioning Hell was something you just don’t do. I disagreed, but agree it has to be done in a kind, caring manner.

This is where my point comes in. When it comes to Heaven or Hell I don’t respect your beliefs. If your beliefs are going to send you to Hell, I’m not going to stand by and watch you take that eternal plunge. If someone’s beliefs are going to send them to Hell, the only way to respect them is to confront them.

Others in our nation say that we have to respect what people believe and not try to convince them that one belief is higher than another. Only problem is that within the truth that I’ve found in Christ, if you do not believe in Christ you will burn in Hell forever. I have no other choice but try to convince you other wise. The ACLU should be thankful. Preaching the gospel of Christ is the greatest civil liberty in all of creation.

I respect that all are individuals, and no one is in control of them but them selves. Which is why in the kindest way possible, I respect only the gospel of Christ, and do not respect or esteem ideas outside of Christ. He alone is the zenith of all things.

what do you think?

Oh what freedom we have in Christ!

My thought’s this morning… if they seem scattered welcome to my brain.

Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

I’ve been given the privilege to be a leader in a community of 300+ young adults. Often I counsel young adults who struggle with various sins. Pornography and lust, gossip, slander, anger and just about everything you can imagine. They come to me and confess their sin and are filled with shame. I pray with them and counsel them, yet they continue to struggle with the same things. Over and over again they fall deep into sins. Some call it “spiritual warfare” some say, or think God is displeased with them. They submit to the fact that this is just their lot in life; to struggle with sin.

Oh if that were true!! ARGH! This is where I counsel them with truth. “Sin has no dominion over you!” I shout. If they and all of us only knew the glorious riches of His grace we would be utterly astonished. WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE!! Christ. Who forever lives to make intercession for us before the Father. So many young people I interact with in the church, fail to understand that sin is not our lot.

I turn my sights on you the reader. If you struggle with sin, do not resign to your struggles. The grace of Christ not only can sustain you, but will. Gal.2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” See those of us who are born of God through the blood of Christ have not only been forgiven of our sins, but his grace will sustain us so that sin has no dominion over us. What a beautiful thing! Let me throw some more scripture your way:

Jude 24 “To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.”

I Corinthians 1:8 “Who (Jesus) will sustain you to the end, guiltless until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sin is not your lot, it is not my lot. Sin is the distraction that keeps us from Christ. Christ came to abolish sin because it was the stumbling block that kept us from communion with the trinity. Sin will always tempt us yet in the grace of Christ we can be sustained. Will we ever be sinless in this life? Absolutely not. But when we fall, we get back up and continue to run the race with endurance; His endurance. (Hebrews 12) Why? Because of love. Because of glory.

Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord God with all your heart soul mind and strength.” Sin keeps us from this heart posture. We love Him, rest in his grace, and freedom from sin is what we get! Oh the glorious freedom we have in Christ. He made us alive when we were dead. Our only high command in return is Love. Love him, love our neighbors.

St. Augustine put it this way: “Love God, and do as you please.” If your love for God is great, your appetite for sin will fade.

and this is the “glorious gospel of the happy God.” (Itim. 1:11)

This is how God is glorifeied in our lives, and how our faith increases. When his grace sustains us from doing things we wouldn’t normally do. We glorify Him. When his grace keeps us from temptation our faith in his existence and activity is increased.

Blessed be the name of my God!

Random scattered thoughts ended… 

In Minneapolis with the Blom family

Greetings ladies and gents from the city that has a twin… Minneapolis. Carrie and I are here visiting her family, and celebrating her brother’s son Tate’s baby dedication. A morning the Bloms is always a good time specifically when Carrie’s mom is making her “paper thin pancakes”. Plus the Blom family has the same passion for good coffee that I do. Good coffee in the morning is like having air to breathe; a necessity for life.

Carrie and I are getting ready to go to Ikea. We are thinking about making it one of the places we register for the wedding.

Well as you can imagine being on a night schedule while doing things during the day means that I just don’t sleep. Good news is I can rest in the millennium. Well at least I’m hopeful.

Oh p.s. My Suns conquered the Celtics last night… Amare is going to be the MVP of the second half of the season. I predict we’ll beat the Pistons in 6 come Finals time.

 

Having sex to save your marriage?

My thoughts right now….welcome.

I‘m sure by now many of you have heard about the church in Florida that has challenged it’s members who are married to have sex every day for 30 days, and those who are single to abstain for 30 days. (Though I pray they abstain until marriage.)

In the interview I saw this morning on the Early Show on CBS, Pastor Wirth  of Relevant Church, said he wanted to help people save their marriages. So they read a book and have sex for 30 days. He said with that with a 50% divorce rate in our country, the reason was that couples are making enough time to have sex. Now I’m only engaged, not, nor have ever been married. My opinion has no experiential knowledge, so married folks feel free to chime in. But I doubt not enough sex is the primary reason. I would venture to bet it’s a sincere lack of Christ.

But what really concerned me was people turning to a book to fix their marriage. One couple said they were having problems, so they got some books and now are trying this. The pastor suggested the book and the 30 day sex challenge as the answer. Now honestly I can’t see there being anything un-helpful about a husband and wife being intimate ever day for 30 days, and I can see books being helpful.

What grieved my heart was that these folks and their congregants trying to fix their marriages with books and formulas. It grieves my heart because we as believers have the indwelling spirit of God within us. We have all the treasury of the knowledge of the living God dwelling within us. (col 1:27) Yet we continue to turn to formulas and books before we ask the one who paid our ransom, saved us from sin, so that we could glorify him forever and his grace forever sustain in all circumstances. My prayer for my self and those in the faith is that they would know that the living God cares about their circumstances. He is not far off, nor is He distant. But He is living and active and has the ability to truly rescue us even from a broken marriage, if we give ourselves to his grace. He has the wisdom and the grace to give us what we need.

Again I’m not married but it seems to me that our faith in Christ and the Word of God should be the primary source in times of need. Whether it be marriage, friendships, pastoring young adults, or what to do when people speak ill of you, it seems that the answer is always the same. Most of us have heard this proverb, with it I close:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him, and HE will make your paths straight.” 

We are the light… not Obama

You’ve heard it said “A vote for (fill in the blank) is a vote for righteousness” in the church nation-wide. I agree that how we vote matters, but it’s HOW we vote. Most people in my community and in Christendom lean toward the republican side of things… ok actually let me re-phrase, all only see pacaderm, they have never heard of donkeys.

What am I trying to say? Well if you go by what most are trumpeting in the church, a vote for a democrat, or say Obama is counted against your righteousness. In other words you would be committing evil, and act of sin to vote for them. I submit to you that, that is false. (but I’m also not endorsing the Dems… but making a bigger point)

There is this doctrine out these days that says we HAVE to vote righteous people into office so that our nation will be righteous. But have we forgotten that it’s us (the church) not Obama, that are supposed to be the light to the world? Have we forgotten that we the church are a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden not the White House. Overturning abortion is so crucial, but it’s a law allowing murder, not forcing people to commit it.

What if we the church had such a vision for the gospel in our own lives that we actually were the light we are called to be. Instead of focusing so much energy on stumping for incompetent leaders who are pro life, let’s put our effort into stumping for the King of the ages. I’m pretty sure his government overrules this one.

It’s clear in scripture that God is the one who rises up rulers and tears them down. It’s clear that he rises up rulers for blessing, and for judgment. No one in Israel would have voted for Nebuchadnezzar, but God put him in government as a judgment to Israel’s unfaithfulness. Is there some sort bible biblical addendum to all of this just because we live in a democracy? Is God not still all sovereign?

It’s HOW we vote. Instead of simply voting for the candidate in blue, stop and ask the Lord who you should vote for. Let the King of Kings’ will be done alone. Don’t vote based on what I say, what Lou says, what some preacher or politician says. Vote while on your knees. What does the Lord say? What if He desires Obama? What if He has a plan or purpose for Hilary Clinton? If you want to know how to vote for righteousness, vote for the one the Lord tells you to vote for.