The good news? 92% of Americans claim a belief in a diety greater than themselves.

On the other hand, Californians are markedly different than the rest of the nation:

But California, like other states along the country’s two coasts, resisted the prevailing national tendencies.

Californians are less likely than other Americans to consider religion “very important” in their lives or to be “absolutely certain” in their belief in God.

Californians pray less than others in many parts of the country. They are less inclined to take the word of God literally. And they are ready to embrace “more than one true way” of interpreting their religious teachings.

This isn’t neccessarily bad news, however. It just means that in California we have to approach conversations in a different way. It also means we must be much more honest and transparent about our own Christian living. The forces us to actually live out what Jesus lived out.

I’m convinced that when we do that, our most devoted disciples will be those who once thought they would never claim religion to be “very important” in their day-today lives.

What would be on your cardboard sign?

In the last post about discipleship we established the concept that discipleship ins’t a program, it is a lifestyle. We each need to have an attitude that every moment is a potential discipleship moment and every person that we encounter is a potential disciple.

That means that some of our disciples will be people who do not yet know God, or Jesus, or the Bible at all. So the question is, “Do we disciple unbelievers differently than we do believers?”

We can’t really answer that question until we answer another question, which is: what is the goal of discipleship?

Shortly after Jesus had died on the cross and risen from the dead, He pulled His closest followers aside and gave them their marching orders. Jesus said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Did you catch that? Jesus is the only guy in history to get up from the grave on His own power and start walking around. He then says all authority in all creation has been given to Him. Where does that authority come from? It comes from the very fact that He’s walking around instead of rotting in a cave somewhere. He has just beaten death, do you think He has the authority to tell us what our life mission should be? You bet.

That authority that He has puts a tremendous amount of weight on Jesus’ next words. You see, if Jesus has all authority, that means he pretty much rules all creation. What He says goes. And the fact that He points out His authority right before giving us this command should tell us He means business in what He is about to say. He is serious about it, so we should be equally serious.

So what does He tell us to do? Make disciples. How do we do that? Three things:

1. Baptise them. That’s identification with Christ.
2. Teach them to obey. That’s imitation of Christ
3. Teach them that Jesus is always with us. That’s intimacy with Christ.

That’s how we make disciples. Now let’s get back to our original question. Is discipling an unbeliever any different that a believer? If discipleship is leading people to be baptised, teaching them to obey Christ, and developing a minute-by-minute dependence on Him, then aren’t these all things we need to model and encourage no matter what a person’s spiritual state is?

See, we get caught up on the “pray-the-prayer” and be saved thing. We want people to make a big decision for Christ. But what discipleship is really about is helping people make incremental spiritual steps toward what God originally intended for them, which is an authentic relationship with Him. And the best way to teach others on how to do that is to live out a continually growing relationship with Jesus and invite them to follow.

That means the most important ingredients to any discipleship relationship aren’t knowledge and expertise, but love and time. Sure, biblical knowledge is essential. But helping someone gain biblical knowledge makes a student, not a disciple. Discipleship is about pouring your life into another person intentionally and lovingly in such a way as when you have left that person he or she is a bit closer to Christ than before. That’s something you can do with anyone–believer, or non.

Well, the embed code has been disabled, so click here to see it.

I’m sitting at the graduation ceremony of the Santana class of 2008 right now. It seems to me it was just yesterday that I was the one graduating and now here I am watching my own child take that step. Truly, time passes faster than we can comprehend.

We can worry about how quickly time goes by or we can make the most of the stage we are currently in. When we focus on time gone by, everything seems lost. We can never recapture yesterday. But, if we focus on right where God has us at this moment, then every moment is a chance for adventure.

My kids ask me, “What’s been the best stage of your life?” I am so blessed that I can answer truthfully that every stage of my life has been the best stage.

Paul puts it this way: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

See, it isn’t which stage you are in that is important. What is of most importance is to make the most of the stage you are currently in.

So how do we begin a discipleship relationship? One of the problems we have with discipleship is that we look at it as something we do. In our minds, discipleship is little different than laundry, taking out the trash, or keeping a doctor’s appointment. Just like all those things, discipleship becomes another task that we do when it is time to do it.

But as we look through the Bible, we see that Jesus never looked at discipleship as a task to be accomplished. Instead, He lived a lifestyle of discipleship.

Surely, there were times that Jesus set aside for His closest followers, and He used those times to intentionally disciple them. But Jesus was also a master at turning every interruption and every circumstance into a discipleship moment. That meant at any moment, any one who was within hearing distance of Jesus was a potential disciple.

Think about it. In John 4, we have the picture of the woman at the well. She went there to get a bucket of water and she left with a soul full of living water. She wanted to know what mountain to worship on, and left knowing it was more important to worship in spirit and truth. In short, she came to the well with one way of thinking and left with another–and that change of thinking changed her life. Jesus had never encountered her before and in one conversation she became His disciple.

The woman at the well wasn’t the only time Jesus did this. There was the rich young ruler who wanted eternal life. There was the blind man in John 9. There were the children who wanted to see Jesus. The examples are countless.

See, Jesus never set aside a time and place to disciple. Instead, He discipled where He was, with anyone and everyone He was with. For Jesus, discipleship wasn’t a task, it was a lifestyle. Every where He went was the place for disdcipleship. Everyone He met was a disciple. Every encounter was a discipleship moment.

Here is what this means to us. Yes, we need to be intentional about discipleship. Being intentional does mean setting aside a time and place in which we focus on how to apply God’s Word to our own life and that of another person. Jesus did that with His apostles. But it doesn’t mean that is the only time we are to disciple someone. To the contrary, we need to live a lifestyle of discipleship. That means everyone we encounter is a potential disciple.

What about those who don’t believe in God or Jesus? Yep, they’re potential disciples too. See, most of those Jesus discipled in the moment weren’t believers either. If everyone is a potential disciple (believers and nonbelievers) then the false tension that we create between evangelism and discipleship completely disappears.

This brings up a question: Is there a difference in how we disciple an unbeliever and a believer? We’ll look at that in part three.

Recently I have been more and more convicted that what we really need to concentrate on in the American church in general and in my local church in particular is to develop a culture of discipleship. The problem is every time we begin to talk about “discipleship” people get nervous.

In the classic church there has been a tension between discipleship and evangelism. Evangelism and discipleship seem to war at each other because they each have opposite targets in mind. Evangelism targets the unbeliever, so we need to be more “seeker sensitive” in order to be effective evangelists. On the other hand, discipleship is aimed at the believer who has sensed a need for spiritual growth. “Seeker sensitive” suddenly becomes a hinderence to “going deeper” in God’s Word.

Yet, I am coming to the conclusion (actually I think I have already arrived) that the tension we feel between evangelism and discipleship is a false one brought about by our own inadequate understanding of what Biblical discipleship really is. If we could re-capture a Biblical model of discipleship, I think we would find this tension to be a figment of our frenzied imaginations.

There are two main mistakes the Western Church has made in the past two hundred or so years. The first is that it has believed that its main mission is to convert as many people as possible into believers. The second is that it has spent much too much energy and effort educating Biblical students. The problem is that the Bible never tells us to do either of these things.

If we make converting people into believers our main mission we miss the mark. Biblically Jesus told us to “make disciples,” not believers. The problem with “believers” is that belief alone never translates into a Christ-like life. Each of us needs models to follow. These models cannot only be dusty, old, dead people from the pages of the Bible. Certainly the examples of people like Joseph, Daniel, and Elijah are great, but if you are like me (human, that is) you need a concrete living example of what it looks like to live a life that is fully surrendered to Christ. Getting people to “pray the prayer” just won’t do that. As a matter of fact, you can search the whole Bible and not find one example of a person who prayed the “sinner’s prayer.” You can’t find it because no one did it. People were exposed to Christ’s followers. They believed or they didn’t believe. Those that believed got baptized. Those that were baptized were discipled. It was that simple.

But discipleship isn’t some study program either. When we approach discipleship as an educational process (can you name all the books of the Bible in order?) we miss the mark altogether again. That’s because discipleship is about transforming lives, not transfering information. A process of information transfer doesn’t produce Christ-like lives either. Instead, it produces cocky, self-assured attitudes.

The Biblical model of discipleship isn’t about getting people to be believers and it isn’t about filling people up with information. Back in Jesus’ day a disciple had just one goal: to become just like his master. That must be the number one goal of discipleship today as well. If we are going to be, and more importantly if we are going to build disciples then the goal of that discipleship is to act, breathe, think, love, and live like Jesus. In other words, the measure of discipleship won’t be about how far we get through a set of material that we have been assigned. It won’t be about answering a list of Bible questions correctly. Instead it will be about how well we love God and love others. It will be about how effectively we serve others. It will be about developing humility in ourselves and confidence in Christ.

Now how does this happen? Stay tuned…

Two weeks ago on Mother’s day Rahab the prostitute was our example during our HEROES series. The key thought for the message was that great faith always overcomes great failure. It’s neat to see how God has worked in the past, but here is confirmation that God is still at work today:

In 2003 the Episcopal church (which is the American arm of the Church of England) ordained their first openly gay bishop. It caused quite the uproar. At that time I wrote this:

So what we have here is a clash between what man thinks is right and what the Bible says is right. Everyone who is a Bible believing Christian has faced this crisis. When we find our personal beliefs or feelings in conflict with Biblical truth, we have a choice: reject what the Bible says, or reject what we feel is right and align with the Bible. The choice that the Bishop and his supporters have taken is clear.

Is it right to leave your wife for another person? The Bible says no.

RRRRIIIPP - just tear that page out.

Is it right to allow such an adulterer into Church leadership? No again.

RRRRIIIPP - there goes another page.

Is it o.k. to ordain those who practice homosexuality? No! No! No!

RRRRIIIPP - it’s getting easier now, isn’t it?

Is there any way to heaven without Jesus? The Bible says absolutely not.

RRR?can your hear it?

Many people at that time thought I was foolish for suggesting that this decision to allow a gay man to become a bishop would lead to the denial that Jesus is the only path to salvation. I was told I was going overboard. But that is exactly where we find ourselves today. From Monday’s Union Tribune:

Jefferts Schori is not a biblical literalist. Take the six-day story of Creation in Genesis, for example. “It’s too good a story to believe it literally,” she said. “It’s got too much meaning to be boxed up in that small of an understanding.”

Seeing Jesus as the only way to redemption also “puts God in a very small box,” she said.

Did you catch that? Jefferts Schori, in case you were wondering, is the “presiding bishop” of all the Episcopalian churches. That pretty much makes her the “pope” of the United States for Episcopalian Christians–and she says that the very idea that Jesus is the only way to redemption “puts God in a very small box.”

It only took four years for the Episcopalians to move from ordaining a gay, adulter as a bishop to denying the central tenent of the Christian faith: that Jesus is the only path to salvation.

That’s what happens when we stop calling sin what it really is: sin. We want to call sin something different. We want to call it a “lifestyle.” We want to call sin a “mistake.” We want to call it “biology.” The bottom line is if sin isn’t sin we don’t need a savior. And if we don’t need a savior then we don’t need Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about gay bishops or homosexuality in the church. We do the same thing everyday when we try to rationalize or justify our own sin. We deny we’ve done it or we deny that it was wrong. When we do it makes us as rebellious and as guilty as the Bishop Robinson.

That’s why we need Jesus who said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the way, but He is the truth as well. You can never get free of your sin until you deal with that. But when you do, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

There is only one way to be free of sin–through Jesus Christ. But it only happens when we ADMIT and SUBMIT. We have to admit our sin and give it to Jesus. Then we have to submit to His word and change what we do. Admit and submit. Do that and be free.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Romans 12:21

Here is what that looks like:

The miracle of the Resurrection of Christ has reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness of a tendency where hate and intolerance in before the “other”, condemning it uncritically as an “enemy”, and ascending to love and respect for one’s “neighbor”, who is always and in any case a person; thus my mind has been released from the obscurantism of an ideology which legitimates lying and dissimulation, the violent death that leads to homicide and suicide, blind submission and tyranny - permitting me to adhere to the authentic religion of Truth, of Life, and freedom. Upon my first Easter as a Christian I have not only discovered Jesus, but I have discovered for the first time the true and only God, which is the God of Faith and Reason …

This is how we, as the church, overcome Islam and violence and decadence and marriages that won’t work, and selfishness. We focus on and center our lives around the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing else has that power.

What do you think of when you hear the word “church?”

Do you think of a building? An organization? A group of smiling, happy people holding hands? If you were to define the church in one, single word, what word would you use?

I think if Jesus was asked that question there is a high chance he’d use this one: mission. The church is a mission. We aren’t on a mission, we are a mission. We are God’s hands and heart and eyes and ears right here on Earth. It’s easy to lose track of that. Its easy to fall into the kind of thinking that says all we are is a “body” of people who “share” the same core “beliefs.” But that’s not a church. That’s a club.

A church is a mission. As a matter of fact, the church is God’s mission on Earth. We need to remember that because when we forget we start to fall into the thinking that the church is a way that uses to do His work. The truth is, the church is the way God works. And you are a part of that.

The church is how God says to us, “I’m committed. I’m all in.” Here’s what the Bible says about this:

…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
- Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV)

That’s committed. That’s all in. And He did that for the church. If Jesus is all in we need to be all in too.

Committed means there is no quit. It’s easy to throw in the towel when things get rough. It’s easy to say, “This isn’t for me” when the future doesn’t look bright. But when Jesus faced the cross, He didn’t quit. He said, “Father, Your will be done.” He was committed.

Committed means doing your part. Yes, the church is a body. That means we all have our part to play. The problem is many of us don’t want to do our part. Oh, for a season we volunteer or help out, but we aren’t willing to take ownership. It’s easier to sit back and watch others do it. But that’s not being the church, that’s just “playing” church. Committed means each of us takes an area of the ministry and owns it. We say “Pastor, don’t worry about this, it’s mine.”

Committed means sacrifice. Committed means we serve not because the church needs workers but because we believe in the vision God has given. Commited means we step out, risk our time and our reputations. Committed means we sacrifice a past-time like going to the desert or playng softball or going bowling or going to the movies because those are temporary but building the kingdom has everlasting impact.

Here’s the thing: only the committed experience the victories. Don’t be fooled: God will always get the victory. But those who quit aren’t around to see it. Those who don’t do their part don’t share in it. Those who do not sacrifice get nothing for their time. Only the committed get to see and experience the greatest works of God.

So here’s the question: do you have an uncompromising commitment to the mission of God at Living Hope?

I just got back from spending the entire day with a good friend who was in need of a good friend. It is easy to underestimate just how much we need each other in this life. Sometimes it takes a day like today to remind me of that.

Who’s life do you need to be involved in? Do you open yourself up and allow others to speak into your life? Who have you given permission to do that?

The Bible says that “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Are you being sharpened by another?

I had something quite interesting happen to me the other day. I was driving and listening to the radio when a song came on about the rapture. The main theme of the song was “the sooner Jesus comes back the better.”

I used to think like that. After all, the world is going to hell in a hand basket and I can’t think of a better time for Jesus to come back. Wouldn’t it be cool if in the middle of a presidential campaign Jesus came back and showed everyone that He’s not a Democrat or a Republican? Wouldn’t it be special if He came back and established His kingdom on Earth and we would all celebrate because we are obviously on the winning side?

But this day, as I listened to that song I couldn’t help but think about all those who have not yet been reached by God’s grace through Jesus. I thought about the 63,000 residents of our neighborhood that live within three-and-a-half miles of our church that do not have a vibrant relationship with a God who loves them. I thought about the kids I see each week at the Sonshine club after-school program who never get to church because their parents are too busy with softball or soccer or work or going to the desert. I thought of families torn apart by the false gospel that says we can give lip-service to Christ without authentically turning our lives over to Him. I thought of all those who do not know the unrestrained joy of a life fully surrendered to the cause of Christ.

Then I started to pray a prayer I had never prayed before:

“Not yet, Jesus,” I prayed. “Wait. Hold off. We have more to save. Give us more time. If you come now it will be too late for them.”

My heart was broken for those who did not yet know Him. It was broken to the point that I was asking God to hold off…

I believe that every time God moves greatly He does so through those who have uncurably broken hearts for the lost. When our hearts are broken for the lost it changes the way we think. Judgment goes out the window and we look for opportunities to exercise the grace that God has given to us. When our hearts are broken for the lost it changes how we do things. It doesn’t change what Christ followers do; all Christ followers devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. But when our hearts are broken we will change how we do those things so that those who are hopelessly separated from God will find living hope in Jesus.

That means we structure our Sunday service in such a way that people who are just checking out God, the Bible, Jesus and church won’t be weirded out. It doesn’t mean we water anything down, but it does mean that we see ourselves as missionaries in a foreign culture. Therefore, instead of requiring the culture around us to speak our language, like any good missionary we are determined to learn and use the language of the culture God has given us the privilege of ministering to.

You see, if we don’t have a broken heart for the lost, our default attitude will be that our neighbors deserve whatever judgment God has planned for them. As a matter of fact, we will be all too eager to watch God meet out His wrath. But if we have the heart like Jesus, the sin, dysfunction, and hurtful lifestyles of those who do not yet know of Jesus will produce a life altering sadness in us that motivates us to love and good deeds.

And that’s where God does His best work.

Well I just got home from our Youth Vision meeting tonight and I am amped up. God is moving so powerfully in our church I can’t even begin to fathom it all. We had practically half the sanctuary full of people who wanted to know about and be a part of what God wants to do with our teenagers and that’s just wild.

I can’t tell you how cool it is to be serving and loving in a church that is full of people who are excited to see and be a part of what God is doing. When that happens, watch out. God is looking for surrendered people who are hungry to see Him move and when He puts people like that together mighty things happen.

People get saved.
Lives are restored.
Kids are set on the path of righteousness.
Parents see redeemed kids and then find faith for themselves.
Broken families find wholeness.

In short, people who are hopelessly seperated from God begin to find living hope in Christ. And that’s what we are all about.

Get ready to see a great work of God.

It’s coming…

As we are reading through “Visioneering” a lot of things are becoming clearer to me. I have to admit, when I began pastoring in Lakeside, I expected much more results much faster than has actually occurred. But the strange thing is, even though I expected us to be further along, at every stage of the game I have been convinced that we were exactly where we should have been–at that time.

I know that sounds contradictory. On the one hand I expected more salvations, more baptisms, more changed lives, more people stepping up into positions of leadership. On the other hand, I have not once thought we have missed an opportunity that we just had to take. It may seem impossible to hold both positions simultaneously, but it’s not. The glue that holds it all together is the conviction that God is the one in control of the situation, not me. When we adopt that viewpoint, it changes how we approach everything in the church.

If we believe that God is in control, then we will also believe that God will move the peices around to make His work successful. That frees us to wait on God until He decides the circumstances are right before we jump into the fray. On the other hand, if we believe God inspires, directs, and then leaves the rest up to us, we are at risk of getting ahead of God. The temptation will be to take control from God, and take matters into our own hands.

Here’s the rub. Both methods accomplish the goal, but only one method accomplishes the goal in the right way. There is always a tension between “get it done” and “get it done right.” When we wait on God, what we are doing is saying, “I don’t just want it done. I want it done right.”

Over the last two years there has not been a group oriented to our teen-agers. We didn’t have such a group because there was not a person in the church who felt God’s call or who had been equipped for that kind of a task. Now don’t get me wrong, my conviction is that any church without an effective youth program is doomed to a slow and painful death.

During that time, we have had several families visit our church for one or two weekends and then never return because there wasn’t a place for their teen-aged children. That was hard. No one wants to see people visit our church and then never come back. No one wants that less than me. We could have started a youth group, but it wouldn’t have been effective. It would have been run by someone who wasn’t called to that sort of service. That would have led to burnout, and burnout would have lead to animosity and animosity would have lead to arguments, and eventually both families (the kid’s and the worker’s) would have left the church.

Instead we chose to believe that God works out what He puts in us. When we do that, He always comes through.

Right now the church is reading together “Visioneering” by Andy Stanley. This struck me (page 17):

“Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is consumed with the tension between what is and what could be. Anyone who is emotionally involved - frustrated, brokenhearted, maybe even angry - about the way things are in light of the way they believe things could be, is a candidate for a vision. Visions form in the hearts of those who are dissatisfied with the status quo.”

Are you satisfied with the way things are? I’m not. Yes, we have a great church. Yes, we are growing, both in depth and numbers. Yes, There is a great feeling of progress and momentum building.

But that is what is. Here is what could be:

• Husbands and wives forgiving the unforgivable and restoring relationships that only God can do
• Fathers, mothers, and teenagers surrendering control of their lives to Christ instead of to drugs and alcohal
• Households rejecting the “American way” of over-spending and instead living debt free
• Students coming to Christ in such numbers that El Capitan, Terra Del Sol, and Lakeside Middle School become top schools in our county and the students are known for their integrity, honesty and devotion to God
• People coming to Christ in such numbers that the entire county cannot ignore the fact that God is at work in Lakeside
• Men and women, just like you, sensing and responding to a God given call to serve, teach, and lead others into a continually growing relationship with Jesus Christ both here in Lakeside and abroad
• The Lakeside Rodeo grounds packed to the edges on Easter Sunday with Lakeside residents and their friends and families all discovering and experiencing God’s grace in their lives
• Men and women by the thousands being freed from their guilt and shame so they can be released to discover all they can be in Christ
• Thousands of men and women and teens and children intentionally growing in their faith, turning over every area of their lives to God: sexually, morally, financially, professionally, and personally
• Raising up a new generation of leaders to take this church into the future

We have a long way to go before that happens, and until it does I won’t be satisfied. Will you?

We were finishing up our homegroup the other night when one of the guys asked me, “How many men do you think will be in church on Sunday?”

It’s a good question. After all the Chargers play at 10am–smack dab in the middle of our service.

Not to mention, this season marks the first time in twelve years that the Chargers have won a play-off game. In addition to that they’re playing last season’s SuperBowl champion, the Indianapolis Colts.

That makes Sunday’s game extra special.

So, how many men will be at church on Sunday?

When the stakes are high men show up and the boys stay home.
When there is a duty to be done, men show up and boys stay home.
When there are lives to be saved men show up and boys stay home.
When there is evil to be confronted men show up and boys stay home.
When there are marriages to be saved men show up and boys stay home.
When there is sin to be confessed, hearts to be changed, hope to be given out, hurts to be healed, Satan to be conquered, and ground to be taken men show up and boys stay home.

How many men will be at church on Sunday?

All of them.

Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
Proverbs 8:1

This last Sunday I talked about how the only way to develop a hope that is solid is to develop a daily dependence on God. And the way to develop that dependence is to connect with Him every day. I gave out an assignment for the next thirty one days–which I hope you are all doing–to start your day off reading one chapter in the book of proverbs.

Why did I send you to Proverbs? Well, the simple answer would be that since there are 31 days in most months, and that each chapter is short, that is the easiest reading plan. While there is something to that, the real reason is that reading the book of Proverbs imparts something that does not come naturally: wisdom.

In today’s Proverb, our Wisdoms speaks to us saying, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.” Wisdom doesn’t come automatically, we have to seek it out.

The question is, are you a seeker of wisdom?

Have you ever had trouble doing the very thing that you know God wants you to do? I have.

So many times we try and try and try and fail at getting our “Christian walk” right. We know that what God wants for us and from us is right an good. As a matter of fact we really do want to do what God wants us to do. And then we find ourselves doing the exact opposite.

The mirror image to that is that we know exactly what we should not do as well. We even agree with God that certain habits, desires, and actions are just plain wrong and against God’s will. He doesn’t want us to do them and we don’t want to do them and yet every time the opportunity comes around we find ourselves doing them.

The worst part of all this is that no matter how hard we try to do the right thing, or try to avoid the wrong thing it seems like it never gets easier. We try and try and try and try and…

You get the picture.

But the problem with the problem is that what we think is the problem isn’t really the problem.

Huh?

Let me try to be more clear. The problem isn’t that we aren’t trying hard enough. First off, the harder we try the harder it seems to get. Secondly, the harder we try the more frustrated we get. Eventually we wear ourselves out completely and figure, “What’s the use?” “Why try anymore?” We give up.

The problem is not that we aren’t trying hard enough. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14.15)

Did you see that? The solution to our obedience problem isn’t to obey better. The solution to our obedience problem is to love Jesus!

Those who are in leadership in a church must be the most obedient Christians in their church. No church will ever rise above the level of their leadership. But the beginning of Biblical leadership is to acquire and exercise a desire to get closer and closer to God.

Developing an unquenchable desire for God is the reason we are renovating our Second Sunday meeting. The purpose of Second Sunday is being changed from leadership development into a time in which we will seek God together in prayer and worship.

You need to be there. It doesn’t matter if you think you are not a “leader” in the church. If you have a heart you need to be there. If you have a desire to know what God wants, you need to be there.

God moves when His people pray together. He moves because prayer is the most powerful display of a person’s desire to touch Him. And when a group of people join together in prayer power is released that is unexplainable.

You need to be there.

Second Sunday: January 13th 6:00pm.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been asking myself and God some pretty hard questions. We’ve gone ’round & ’round but when I boil it down to one central issue that I’ve been asking God about is: “What does it take to build a church that is doing what God wants and is experiencing God-blessed results.” In this time of reflection and prayer, God is helping me to see that there are certain attributes that are at the core of every healthy, growing church.

These attributes–or attitudes–aren’t a five-step program or a “How to do Church.” These are deep down in the very DNA of the healthiest churches. These attributes aren’t head knowledge, either. They actually determine what these churches do and how they do them. And the result is that unchurched and unbelieving men, women and children are coming to Christ in numbers and power that are so unbelievably impossible that it must be God Himself behind it all.

One of the attributes that these healthy, growing churches have engrained is an unwavering conviction that God wants to do great works through us.

Let’s face it: God loves doing miracles. Most of us would love to see God work in marvelous ways. And we wonder if He’ll ever do something spectacular in or even near our lives so we can see first hand how great God is.

But if we look at the miracles that are in the Bible, we find out that almost every time God involved a human being in the working of those great works. God can do (and has done) miracles without our involvement, but it’s very rare.

Here’s the rub: We have to make ourselves available to God. I don’t know why God has chosen to work in this way, but He has. Too often we sit around waiting for God to do the miraculous when all the while He is waiting for us to get in on the game.

We have the ability to put God off. We can put Him on hold. If we choose, we can make other things priorities. When we do we miss out on the great things God has planned. We miss out on seeing and experiencing and participating in God’s great works.

That’s a sad thing. And the biggest problem is that we never know how sad it is because we never know just what we missed out on. We never see the lives we could have touched. We never see the families that we could have healed. We never see the power of God expressed in unbelievable ways. And so we never quite realize we have missed out.

BUT…when we make ourselves available God opens doors and possibilities that we could have never imagined. This only happens when you adopt an unwavering conviction that God wants to do great works through you.

²²And still the Christians in the churches in Judea didn’t know me personally. ²³All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” ²⁴And they praised God because of me.

 - Galatians 1.22-24

I was once talking to someone who was having tremendous personal problems. I mentioned that he needed to make some pretty significant changes in the way he dealt with people. He understood that to be true, but he didn’t know if it could truly happen.

“After all,” he asked, “can a leapord change its spots?”

Of course the answer to that question is a resounding “NO!” And the truth is we have no more power to change ourselves than a leapord does. But what we too often discount is the power God to change us.

God changed Paul from persecutor to preacher. He changed Peter from coward to captain. He changed Gideon from wimp to warrior. He changed David from shepherd to soldier. He changed Rahab from harlot to hero.

If the Good News of Jesus can change all those people, it can change you too. And even more, it can change anyone–that means anyone.

That’s the power of His Good News.

I’m willing to bet that there is someone in your world right now that you think would be the very last to come to Christ. This person is so rude, so difficult, so anti-everything you believe in and love that it is next-to impossible for him or her to respond to the love and truth of Jesus Christ. It would take a miracle for him or her to make a change.

Here’s the good news: God is into miracles. God does the impossible all the time. He’s just waiting for someone to act out on the belief He’ll actually do something. He’s waiting for you to radically love that person who is so unlovable. He’s waiting for you to step out and step out and be a part of the miracle. The question isn’t whether God’s going to do something incredible: that’s a sure thing. The question is, are you going to be a part of it?

The older I get the more I realize there are things I just don’t know. At the same time experience has taught (is teaching) me that there are some things that are always true.

For instance, its pretty safe for me to say its a sure bet that you will face something today that is going to challenge you. It may be something small and short-termed, or it may be something big and you cannot see when it will ever be over. It might be something that, in the end, doesn’t matter that much (but is very annoying), or it could be something that is threatens your closest relationships, your job, or your very life.

It’s hard to have confidence in times like that. When it feels like everything in your world is falling apart, you need to know that there is something–anything–you can hold onto. Fortunately, God delivers that confidence:

1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot-
   yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him-
   the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
   the Spirit of counsel and might,
   the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
   nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
   and make fair decisions for the exploited.
   The earth will shake at the force of his word,
   and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
   and truth like an undergarment. - Isaiah 11:1-6

Isaiah wrote this passage to the nation of Judah in their very darkest hour. Conquering hordes from Assyria had taken over and destroyed every nation around Judah and was now marching on the gates of Jerusalem. In that moment, when hope was completely gone, Isaiah wanted everyone to know–God is still in control.

You might think no one can understand what you are going through. But Isaiah tells us that this “new Branch” has the Spirit of wisdom and undestanding–He knows the pain you feel, the situation you are in, what’s at risk.

But this “new Branch” is more than someone who knows what you are going through. He also knows what to do about it–that’s because He has the Spirit if counsel and might. Maybe, just maybe, if you seek out the counsel of the “new Branch” you might get some fresh insight, and receive some of the might (or power) to get past what you are going through.

In case you were wondering, that “new Branch” that Isaiah was talking about has a name: it’s Jesus of Nazareth.

The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. - Isaiah 8:11

As I have been teaching through this series on the Kingdom of God, there has been one recurring theme: If we are going to live kingdom lives it means our thinking must be different than that of everyone else.

Politicians want us to vote one party or the other because–obviously–”our party stands for God and the other does not.”

Culture wants us to think that truth changes as time goes on; that since we are in a modern era, we need modern thinking and the old, out-dated wisdom no longer applies.

Christians want us to think that we are in an “us vs. them” world and that we should isolate ourselves. When someone offends us with their lifestyle they can “go to hell” for all we care. (A “Christian” I know just recently used that very phrase…and, sadly, he was serious about it.)

Then comes along Jesus and He says off the wall things like: “Love your enemies,” and “The first will be last and the last will be first,” and “Whoever wants to be greatest in the Kingdom of God must first become your slave.”

That does not compute.

Its only when we realize that “The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does,” that we truly begin living in in the kingdom.

So let’s stop thinking like politicians, the culture and Christians. Instead, let’s strive to have “the mind of Christ..”

Chad gets it:

I know that I was created for the abnormal. I know that I was not created for what society tells us to live. I know that I was created for something so much different that will look in this world’s eye, as fanatical.

Why is it we are so afraid of being different than what the world expects us to be? In the Bible, the Greek word we translate as “church” is “ek-klesia.” It literally means the “those who are called out.”

The problem is we want to be “Christian,” but we don’t really want to be different than our unbelieving neighbors. We want to love the same things they love, do the same things they do, drive the same cars, live in the same houses, pursue the same goals…you get the picture. But if we were truly “called out” wouldn’t there be differences between the way we live and the way non-Christ followers live? Wouldn’t we be making different choices and have different priorities?

Those differences do not come automatically. That’s why Paul told us:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Paul knew we really wanted to be like everyone else. But he also knew that wasn’t good enough. Being like everyone else is normal. He knew we were created for the abnormal. You see, it’s abnormal to put God first. It’s abnormal to prioritize your day according to kingdom needs, to see things through a kingdom viewpoint, to operate each day under kingdom power. Sometimes it’s worse than abnormal. Sometimes, it’s downright weird.

But its in the abnormal that God does His work. Its abnormal for us to love like Christ. But when we do hearts are touched, and changed. Its abnormal for us to persevere when there seems like there is no hope. And yet when we do, God shows up. Its unexplainably abnormal for us to pledge a set percentage of our weekly, bi-weekly or monthly income to the church. Yet when we do God promises to bless us.

Are you ready to be abnormal? Are you ready to live life with kingdom thinking and kingdom action? Are you ready for abnormal?

If you are at all into techno-gadgets (which I am) you’ve no doubt been watching all the fervor over the new Apple iPhone. I have to admit, when it first came out I considered standing in line overnight to be one of the first to get one. It wasn’t because I needed a phone or an organizer–I have both. But look at the thing: it’s just dang cool.

But then I had to ask myself, “Is this a kingdom desire?” You see, when we wrap kingdom thinking around everything we do, it changes the way we make decisions. Could I have afforded the iPhone? You bet. It’s not only a matter whether or not I could buy one for cash instead of credit–I could have. But when we’re thinking kingdom thoughts, we ask ourselves other questions, like “How can I better invest this money into the kingdom?”

And I’m glad I didn’t get that iPhone right off the bat. It seems they realized it was completely over-priced. They just slashed $200 off the retail after just two months on the market. Any guesses on who isn’t happy about that move?

“I guess I paid an extra $200 for the privilege of waiting in line for a few hours,” said Tony Marengo of Themactutor.com and the former manager of the Apple store on Michigan Avenue.

Actually, what Tony and those with like-minds paid for was the privilege of being “the guy with the coolest gadget.” What’s the lesson here?

Coolness costs.

(Hat-tip Chris Bell)