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Forward Motion Faith to Die
This heading probably caught you off guard. Faith to die? Are you kidding Pastor Teague? I barely have enough faith to live every day of my life in Christian experience much less think about dying! Give me a break!
Let me share an experience with you I had while pastoring Evangel Temple in Warren, Michigan. God allowed me to learn a valuable lesson from a woman of God whose name I will not mention due to the privacy of the family. Her husband was on our elders council. She was a mild, kind and loving woman of faith. She was diagnosed with brain cancer and we watched her dwindle down to nearly nothing. Her spirit was strong but her body was giving out. She endured the normal treatments and we sincerely prayed for her healing. Healing didn’t come in the physical realm – it came in a divine form that would teach me a lesson I will never forget. I received that dreaded call one afternoon and drove to their house just a few blocks from the church. They had set up a hospital bed in her home. Hospice had been involved for a few weeks ( these folk are angels by the way). I sat on the edge of the bed that day and witnessed a faith miracle. I watched her leave her family with a smile on her face and a glow about her that was nothing short of the Shekinah Glory of God. It was as though her face lit the room up with the warm glow of the presence of God. I have never experienced anything like it before. The Holy Spirit whispered in my ear and said to me, “She had faith to die.” Unbelievable! While writing this blog I can sense that divine presence as though it were just yesterday!
I say all this because I was reading scripture this evening in Acts 6 -7 about Stephen’s encounter with death. Acts 6.15 says that his face shone as an “angel.” The Sanhedrin Council got a glimpse of a man who was full of grace and the Holy Spirit. He was full of God! His face was aglow with the very presence of God. The Sanhedrin Council was a cold-hearted bunch. They sat a horseshoe-shaped conference table and handed out religious judgments as though they were the voice of God themselves. They missed it on this one.
Stephen was run out-of-town and stoned. They tied him to a scaffold about twice the size of a man. The first stone thrown was at his chest. The second stone was hurled at him with significant force. If this didn’t kill him – the crowd would run at him collectively with force and throw stones at him simultaneously. The process of throwign stones continued until he was dead. His body would remain strapped to the scaffolding until sunset. It was in this position as he was being stoned to death he managed the words, “Lay not this sin to their charge!” Stephen died after preaching a powerful message that set his murderers off (Acts 7.1-53). This is a man who had the faith to die. He died as Christ-like as anyone ever could.
I watched one late afternoon a woman die with the glowing presence of God on her face. She didn’t fight it. She persevered with great faith. Strong faith. Faith that took her by the hand and led her from here to there. Faith that assisted her in managing her last breath here and taking her next one in celestial surroundings. Great faith! Awesome faith!
Some “faith critic morons” would argue my point. They would harshly accuse her, her family adn myself with having no faith. Bunk! Hogwash! Asinine accusations! But I would only point to Hebrews 11 – the great faith chapter. Here is the hall of faith of those who have fought a good fight, kept the faith and have entered into their reward. But wait a minute…hold on! Some died – never receiving the promise. Look at this passage with me:
Hebrews 11:13
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
This is a faith that some “faith freaks” have a hard time with! This is faith that never sees a manifestation of something promised prior to death! This is faith to die with! They died in faith without receiving the promises BUT HAVING SEEN THEM AND WELCOMED THEM FROM A DISTANCE…!!!!
I sat and watched a woman of great faith take her last breath. She had seen something from and welcomed it from a distance – knowing she was a stranger here on earth. I believe she saw the face of the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the Father’s right hand. I believe she grabbed hold of something from a distance and died in great faith!!
There is a message here for someone who reads this! Real faith doesn’t know disappointment! Real faith doesn’t introduce us to loss, death, grief and loneliness! Why not? Because real faith is what takes someone from here to there – from a distance to a reality and divine manifestation of something we cannot see as “earthlings”.
Hang tough people. When I die I want it said of me that I had the faith to die. I want to grab hold of seeing something from a distance and welcoming the sight of glory! Oh yeah! She taught me that you really can have the faith to die. Think about this for a moment. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. If I can hold it in my hand I don’t need faith for it. While I am alive I don’t need faith for living – I have life and have it more abundantly! What faith really introduces to us is the reality of dying – seeing eternal life at a distance and welcoming it as we step from this life to our celestial life. The test of faith is not what we see but rather what we don’t see. To die in faith is to see something we don’t yet have – we see it and welcome it from a distance. We see the other side of this life.
I have no idea why I am writing this tonight but I trust someone can understand that when facing death – you can have the faith to die. Maybe someone you know has passed or is poised to pass from this life to their eternal abode. Let them go. In faith they see something we can’t. They see it from a distance! They welcome it by faith. By faith they pass and by faith we let them.
Good night and God bless all of you.
Engineered Error
I can’t help myself. When I drive by and see the billboard I have to cringe. It speaks to the mockery of faith and end time prophecy. You’ve seen it along with literally thousands of drivers headed in Lancaster on SR 33. It looks me right in the face as I turn up 33 headed home when leaving the church. It’s bold. It’s a powerful statement and investment for someone’s conviction that Jesus is coming back on May 21. I want to call this ridiculous and a waste of someone’s or some ministries funds. I want to criticize the ad. I want to personally tear it down. But I can’t and will not. This is America and the last time I checked we still practice freedom of speech. Whoever put up the billboard has a right to his faith, his opinion and his calculations of scripture to arrive at the belief that the rapture is going to occur on May 21, 2011. He has the year and the day down…maybe eventually he’ll arrive at the very moment of the rapture. I mean, if you’re going to ask for wisdom to know the day and year it seems to me you could at least take a shot at the hour! Forgive me, I’m being purposefully cynical.
I checked his website out. Familyradio.com is his website. The ministry started in 1958 by a guy named Harold Camping who is now 88 years old! The website is loaded with end time prophecy statements and articles about this and that. Camping is, (retired more than likely) a civil engineer by profession. He claims to be a mere unpaid volunteer for Family Radio. Whatever! One thing about Camping is you pick immediately that he is true to his convictions – one thing we can say “kudos” to Camping for. Standing up for what he believes – even if what he believes contradicts scripture. Allow me a moment here, please.
He has made other attempts at predicting the end of the world. I’m intriqued that after missing it in the past he still has choice disciples who cling to his coat-tail. I never cease to be amazed. Again, I shouldn’t so critical of a person who has something they are so committed to – but his commitment is so wrong I can’t help but be critical of it. His “engineering mathematics” has gone awry. His calculator has run out of juice. Something went wrong – like picking up the calculator in the first place. This is his second (known to me anyway) attempt at predicting the unpredictable. He wrote a book in 1992 entitled “1994” which he published a huge effort at defining the Lord’s return in the month of September 1994. Obviously he missed it!
I remember and so do you the attempt to predict the coming of the Lord in 1988. Something about 88 reasons the Lord was coming back…back then. Scary but Biblically correct. Matthew 24 teaches us that in the last days false prophets would show up. They would preach their miscalculated messages. It would be only one indicator of many that would point to the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus made one comment that should’ve shut all the date setters up. He said in Matthew 24.36 that no one knows when Jesus will return. Jesus said the angels don’t know nor does He know. Only the Father knows. That rapturous moment has not been released from the Father to the Son – but with guys like Camping still around we can be sure of one thing – we’re not far from it. Date setting is something Camping has wasted a lot of time on. When one reads his website to defend his date setting you get the idea (or at least I did) that this is scriptural mumbo jumbo on his part. He takes a few dates, subtracting and adding some figures, and smoking the calculator to arrive at a date for the rapture that no one knows anyway. Unbelievable!
What Camping has done is to one more time give reason for unnecessary scorn, laughter, jokes and finger-pointing to occur at the expense of Christianity at large. He is feeding the frenzy of the world to mock the church and accuse of being out of our minds. He has given them reason to accuse us of digesting some spiritually Xanax. When you add to these purposeful attempts to make us look stupid along with all of those who don’t really try that hard but still make us all look like spiritual morons – it can get pretty hard for us once in a while.
Fasting has taken me to an intimacy with the Lord I really was asking for. In praying this morning I realized that Camping is just one of many. He is one of thousands who just happened to have the financial backing to do a national campaign in relationship to his miscalculated calculations! What a waste! But then again…it’s his money and his convictions. Sad but true – he has every right to do what he is doing. All I can say is that this is one civil engineer who missed it on every count. I just wonder what will happen on May 22 when we’re all still here – unless the rapture takes place before May 21. Wouldn’t that be a hoot! I guess we can say it would be God Almighty laughing at the expense of those like Camping who honestly believe they have arrived at some understanding of end time prophecy that no one else has – not even the Son of God. Someone needs to be available on May 22 to help Camping take off his cape, black tights and his shirt with a big red “S” on it. Before the 21st of May, in his mind he is a prophecy superman. On the morning of the 22nd the “S” may point more toward stupidity than anything else. There I go again…shame on me. Shouldn’t be so rough on the guy. It is what it is! Good night folks!
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley made the news today. He didn’t make the news for fraud, money laundering, prostitution or immoral politics. He got in trouble because he stood up for his faith. Shortly after he took the oath of office at the Alabama Capitol on Monday, Bentley headed across the street to a service honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at King’s first church, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Again, he was in a church, not a public venue, a high school auditorium or a city arena. He was in a church. And while in the church’s pulpit he made the following statement: “Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”
According to the news savages and godless information leaches out there you would have thought he called the Pope gay and cursed Jesus Christ. With all the name calling, the violent accusations and character slashing that has been done in the past several weeks you would think the media would welcome a righteous remark like Bentley’s. Nope. They missed the opportunity to support a man and his faith convictions. Bentley spoke truth. He just didn’t speak a faith opinion – he spoke truth. Truth as my brother knows it and I know it because the truth he spoke is based on Scripture. You know…that book that we know as Holy Writ. The book that the media crazies are dead set against. Governor Bentley spoke truth. For doing so he has taken a “hit”. I stand amazed at how Christians in the United States of America have become the minority. We are being attacked in our own front yard and there seems to be a spirit of approval which is the identical twin to the spirit of antichrist. If they think Bentley’s remarks were terrible and out of line – they’re really going to have a hard time with what Jesus said.
John 3:16-21
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Can you imagine if Jesus were alive today and made these comments? Oh my! Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. There are not multiple ways to get to heaven. There is only one Savior – his name is Jesus! That’s it. No other way to put it. Why is this such a “bad” statement to make? Because it threatens darkness and those who live in darkness.
Governor Bentley was right according to what Jesus said. Non-believers are judged by their non-belief. Simple. Not difficult to understand. It is imposing. It is offensive. No doubt about it – but it is truth. Serious truth. Jesus said that men who live in darkness love the darkness and hates the Light. Why? Because real Light points out sin in our lives. Real true Light reveals the sin nature which Jesus said men love. So there are men and women out there who really do love living in darkness. They love their sinful ways. They love to find fault with righteousness. Jesus said men who live in darkness are afraid of the Light because it will expose their deeds.
For the most part anyone who finds fault with Governor Bentley’s remarks is in fact afraid of Bentley’s remarks. They probably favor darkness. Light has threatened them. I’ve seen it over and over in and out of church.
Someone once said that Jesus will do one of two things: 1) convict you or 2) anger you. Let me say that the part of our population that would find fault with Bentley’s remarks need to understand why. Darkness. They are in darkness and they don’t like Light exposing their evil deeds. This massive campaign against Christianity is about those who do evil deeds and resist being found out. Bottom line. It’s real simple Evil men hate light. Christians are “light”. We just don’t represent Light – we are light.
Ephesians 5:8
8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.
We are light in a dark place. While it upsets me to know there are men and women who operate in darkness and love it and therefore hate not only the true Light – they hate us because we are light. Actually, that’s a compliment. Let me thank all of those who are in darkness. It’s an honor to know that Christianity is upsetting to you. It just proves you are evil and need a Savior. Trust me, He’s awesome! He and He alone can forgive you of your sin nature and bring you into His marvelous Light. Lights on – I hope everybody is home!
It’s Bigger Then I Thought!
I sat tonight with my Nexus team and discussed some new information on the millennia’s (that group of our population born between 1980 and 2000). The millennial are the group that was the prominent people group in my prophetic dream I had last September. I need not go into the detail here – I have explained this several times.
My point tonight is that in our season of fasting and seeking a deeper intimacy with Him – we cannot escape our call to succeeding generations. Once again I call you to your knees to not just seek an intimacy for yourself with God – I am asking you to seek out your place in the call to reach all those in the wake of this old gospel ship.
They are a different group – the millennia’s. They have some unique dynamics that point to a new paradigm of effort on our part to reach them. It ain’t church as it was or there will be no church for tomorrow. I will address this issue and much more on Sunday, February 6 at VHC. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this service.
I am going back to what I believe is something prophetic that is happening right in front of our eyes. It goes back to what I mentioned last night in my blog. It’s the visioneamers! You know that silly word I created last evening! It’s the combination of visions (young men) and dreams (old men) Simon Peter speaks of in Acts 2. It goes beyond just a few passages of scripture to excite Pentecostals and Charismatics about speaking in tongues and practicing all our super hyper spiritual stuff. It is seeing prophecy fulfilled right in front of our eyes. Here is my point – the millennia’s present several dynamics that I think prove fulfillment of prophecy.
I believe that we are going to see the next generation grab hold of the hands of previous generations and move into a last day outpouring of the Holy Spirit unmatched by anything we have ever seen! The “last day outpouring” has been falling since the day of Pentecost. We have yet to see a movement that will capture the fulfillment of Acts 2.17 which declares that our young men will see vision and our old men will dream dreams. This is a cooperative effort of two generations!
I am fifty-three years old. I have seen many moves of the Holy Spirit in my time. I have seen the supernatural gifts in operation. I have seen miracles. I have seen the absolute phenomenon of the Holy Spirit. I have sensed His presence so strong I didn’t think I nor anyone else could physically withstand His presence. I have been overwhelmed by His presence. But what I have yet to see is a complete fulfillment of divine anointing on two generations in complete cooperation with one another. I believe we are about to see it happen. I can only pray that VHC is ready for it when it happens.
When you read the statistics available on the spiritual, cultural, political, economic and familial dynamics of this succeeding generation it makes you realize that we have our hands full. If we are not prepared and poised to reach this group we will diminish the chances of continued church growth and the fulfillment of this prophetic message in our own church venue. We have to do several things as a church to engage the millennia’s.
First, we have to start a new level of involvement from our senior adult groups. The millennia’s have a high degree of respect for this group. They can and should be utilized as never before to reach this succeeding generation. See Titus 2; 1 Peter 5.5 and Romans 9.12.
Second, we have to use the millennia generation to their fullest possible potential. One of the fears this generation has in relationship to their age, education, skill and talent is that previous generations will not put them work. They are described as workaholics by many sociologists and people group researchers. I am reminded of what Paul told Timothy – whom he engaged in ministry work as a very young man – “despise not your youth!” (1 Timothy 4.12). We need to listen to Paul’s advice.
Third, the millennia generation holds “family” as their number one priority in life. This means that churches will have to purposefully missional in their approach to reaching this generation. This means that VHC will have to stop and make new plans for our future. We don’t have a choice if we want to fulfill our scriptural mandate of evangelism and continue to be a growing church. It will be a costly venture but cost is not a problem when obedience brings it to a disciplined place in our personal budgets.
Fourth, we will have to engage practical and relevant information that speaks to our future as a church. Practical facts like these stats from the 2000 census:
What does this have to do with us as a church? A lot! If this much of our city population is under thirty then there are a lot of kids and teenagers in our city. We also discovered that a high percentage of this group actually lives within the corporate city boundaries. They are right under our noses! We can do nothing less than prepare to meet the millennia’s complex needs on our campus and in the streets of our city!
For instance, it is a goal of mine to build and resource a children and youth center on our campus. If the succeeding generation has a priority for family – we need to meet that need on our campus. If they are anxious about providing for their families – we need to meet that need on our campus. If they are interested in learning then we need to offer classes that will facilitate their learning needs on our campus. Do you get the picture? If we do not become proactive in reaching this generations needs we will chase their shadow in attempts to be reactive and by that time we will have missed the greatest opportunity to be part of prophecy being fulfilled!
This is more than building a few buildings. This is more than creating classes to meet their spiritual needs. This is more than providing a few senior adults to teach young men and women how to better serve Christ. It is about obedience. It is about being part of the greatest window of outpouring we have ever seen.
I don’t know about you but I am excited about the future of our church. I sense God doing some great and mighty things in our future. There is no doubt in my mind that not everybody will understand or want to saddle up on this one. I can only be as Joshua was with the children of Israel in Joshua chapter one – move out in forward motion faith. I don’t know where the money will come from. I don’t know how we are going to do what God has called us to do specifically. What I do know is we are a people of faith and without faith we can’t please Him. With faith we please Him and in reciprocal action He pleases us.
Are you ready to put a smile on your face? His face?
Visioneamers!
I had the opportunity to be at the Lancaster Mall today for a bit. I sat for approximately forty-five minutes as Kim and her mom shopped. I am a people watcher so as I sat I was drawn to the students in the mall. Due to the holiday (Martin Luther King Day) students were out of school. Many parents were spending the day with their kids. By watching you could tell that either a mom or dad had taken the day off and were chillaxing with their kids. On the other hand it was apparent without question that the mall had become the day’s baby sitter for far too many young people who were present without parental oversight. They traveled aimlessly from one end of the mall to the other. The purpose of these students for today? Stay out of trouble and grab some lunch at some point. Their mothers or fathers had dropped a large percentage of them off probably with the intent of picking them up when they got off work. Interesting…very interesting.
I watched these kids for these few minutes and gathered some personal observations. Sitting in the mall for forty-five minutes does not within itself qualify me to be a professional sociologist. It doesn’t qualify me to become the extended parent for these tumbleweed students. On the other had having pastored for over thirty years does give me the experience needed to say what follows. I preface this with saying that Kim and I have dedicated ourselves to the lives of teens for many, many years. Our love for students will never leave evidence that would be indicative of any short of giving our lives for students.
The kids I watched today brought some things to my mind. The kids…or…uh…students from VHC. I watch them week after week. I have watched them for six years. They have grown. Some have matured and others all of us are hoping will at some point soon. They are awesome students. They come from spiritually sound homes and dysfunctional homes. They come with both parents, they come with a single parent and they come on the bus only hoping to have a parent at some point in the future. They come with name brand tagged clothes and they come with second hand clothes possibly from our own Victory Center. They come with spiritual training and they come without a clue to who Jesus is or what church is all about. They come with an upbringing that lends itself to respect to authority figures and they come without any idea of how to show respect to anyone or anything. They come with a practicing definition of what modesty is and they come with the idea that modesty is a lost need for society. Oh yeah…the come to VHC week after week. They sit under our instruction and guidance. They come because their parents are second and third generation believers who have always come to church and they come because no one in their home has ever attended – they come with friends or on the bus. They come from homes that have convictions and they come from parents that are agnostics and are cold-hearted toward anything spiritual. They come from homes that express love in the most gentle and secure manner and they come from homes where love is a three letter word – sex. They come from homes where discipline is focused and well thought out and they come from homes where physical and sexual abuse are the answer to discipline. I could go on by I choose not to bore you.
Yes, watching these students today reminded me again of two powerful passages of scripture that should work toward defining our future at VHC. They are Acts 2:17,39:
17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
In the birthing chapter of the New Testament church are found two passages that point to succeeding generations of young people. “Sons and daughters shall prophesy” and “the promise is for you and your children and all who are far off” bring life to our purpose at VHC. It’s just not about reaching any succeeding generation – it’s about prophetic fulfillment of duty. Then Luke caps this off by writing what Peter says when he delivers his awesome message on the day of Pentecost: “…your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.” This is a powerful statement. Two generations will hold hands and move into the dynamics of Pentecost and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We can never forget this prophetic mandate. Simon Peter fave us a key element to reaching succeeding generations – and it was so very simple – getting dreamers and visionaries to hold hands. One compliments the other.
As I sat in the mall today I was reminded once again how vitally important our mission to reach succeeding generations is. It is imperative to our future. It is imperative to the future of all succeeding generations. Reach them or lose them. We can’t afford to lose them. I can’t imagine what being a parent was like when Elvis Presley and the Beatles hit the stage. I can’t imagine what it was like when Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd hit the stage. You see with every generation comes the introduction of their own cultural identity. Like it or not – it’s been happening for ages. Baggy pants with the crotch to the knees really boggles my mind. Girls with attire on that eliminates modesty completely totally upsets me. The human body becoming an artist’s canvas from head to toe makes me question the meaning of art. Piercings that will someday make one look like a dinosaur makes me smile inside. But at one time page boy hair-cuts on boys, bell bottom pants, rolled up blue jeans and tie-dye t-shirts made someone’s parents frown and wonder where the world was going next. We have never been without generational culture challenges. I raced torqued cars from the Detroit assembly lines. Today we throw a muffler on an import that makes it sound like a model airplane and we call it a race car. Go figure.
I’m rambling and making no sense to many of you. My point is that we have an obligation to deal with opposing cultural views and succeeding generations and the “stuff” they bring with them. We have our hands full.
I challenge VHC to the high cost of reaching succeeding generations. With their issues, habits, lack of ethics…and yes…their traditional and nontraditional faith views – we have a scriptural mandate to reach them. Liking their styles or even understanding them will probably not happen. Doesn’t have to. I nor my congregation will be judged by what we liked or disliked about them. We will be judged by our attempts to reach them. I cannot nor can we as a congregation fail to reach them.
Fasting has already started to show its fruit in our services. A large number of respondents to our altar call Sunday were students. They were millennia’s. Right before our eyes we are watching God bring us together – the visionaries and the dreamers. Young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams. When they come together and hold hands – they form a “visioneamer”. Don’t look that word up. Don’t waste your time. It’s my word. It’s what I am claiming for VHC. A congregation of “visoneamers.” You figure it out as you continue to fast and draw close to Him.
It Was All About the Nets
Today’s services were absolutely awesome! Totally blown away by both services. Usually, as a rule our two services take on their own life. Since the Holy Spirit leads both of them and the Holy Spirit is in constant motion – we rarely see a “duplicate” service in demonstration. Our service order is the same but we don’t usually see a “repeat” demonstration of the Spirit. Today was a bit different.
I prayed early this morning in the sanctuary. I sensed I was missing something but just couldn’t put my finger on it. In our first service worship service the Holy Spirit began to reveal to me a direction I needed to go with the services (note the word “services” is plural – what happened in the first service the Holy Spirit led me to believe was going to be repeated in the second service). It was about the nets. It was relatively simple – I just had not received it.
The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “There are people here today who have “broken nets”. The words sound like “brokenness” when you say them repeatedly. Broken nets is indicative of brokenness. Until the brokenness is dealt with you can’t move into the deep waters to catch a large supernatural catch of fish.
Jesus walks up to the disciples who are “mending their nets” (John 5.1-11). He finds four disciples – Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. The following steps take place in a life changing moment in these men’s lives.
1. It’s about the nets.
The whole day today had a relationship to these nets. Here is what the Holy Spirit led us to do today. It wasn’t about mending, repairing or restoring the nets. It was about replacing the nets.
Jesus never mentioned the activity of the men mending their nets. He never mentions the nets again until He tells Simon Peter to cast the nets overboard for an unbelievable catch. This being said, Jesus stopped the net mending and had Simon Peter get in his boat and surrender command to Him. Here is the key to what happened today: this wasn’t about mending or repairing the brokenness. This was about replacing the nets. When Simon Peter finally had to grip the net to fish with – it was a new one, the old one had been supernaturally replaced. The old was still on the shore in an unfinished condition of restoration.
There are times God can and wants to mend, repair and restore. But there are times he wants to replace the brokenness. Today in both of our services – He replaced brokenness. We left some broken nets on the shore of yesterday’s experiences. He led us into a new net position. It isn’t always about restoration – sometimes it’s about replacement.
The broken nets were a symbol of former failure. They had fished all night and had caught nothing. Absolutely nothing. That was a huge failure for a professional fishing crew. They knew where to fish and how to fish. But they were working in the flesh. Simon would engage in the same activity but this time it would be under divine direction and it would be successful. Sometimes we have to leave yesterday’s failures on the shore, untie the boat, get in with a new Captain and move in forward motion faith. Failure doesn’t have to be fatal or final.
2. Untie the boat.
You can’t even consider pushing into shallow water much less go deeper until you untie the boat. This is about control. It’s about surrendering control of your “life ship” to the Lord. We will never go deep with the Lord until we walk away from attempts at mending something that needs to be replaced.
3. Listen and learn.
“Push out a little” is about moving in forward motion faith in stages. First stage is listening and learning. This is the shallow water of listening and learning. Simon Peter would hear whatever Jesus was teaching that day in its entirety. Did Jesus put Simon Peter in a “fixed listening” position so Simon would be a captive audience? Does He put you and I in a fixed position of listening and learning? I sure hope so! We do know that Simon had not yet learned to walk on water yet…so maybe He did put Simon Peter in fixed position of listening and learning.
4. Respond and Reward
The next command Jesus would give to Simon Peter would be to “launch out into the deep for a catch”. Really? Are you serious? Here was a carpenter telling fisherman how to do their job. And it worked because this fisherman had listened and learned and now he would respond and obey. Oh, Simon had an opinion alright – but the point of his lesson learned was in his statement, “Nevertheless, at Your Word”. Badda boom badda bing!
Opinions aren’t bad until they keep from obedience. All of us have an opinion about this and that. All of us! Something happened to this opinionated fisherman that morning. He surrendered to the word and will of the Lord. When he did he found a new way of fishing!
5. Blessed to bless.
When Simon Peter reached to his feet there was a new net. Not an old repaired and restored net. A new one and the new one brought in such a load of fish that Simon had to ask for help to contain the catch. This is nothing less than being blessed to bless. Simon Peter took his lesson learned and applied to it responding and received a reward – as well as did others around him.
Your blessings are given so that you can bless others. 2011 is already in forward motion due to our fasting and seeking God. The two services proved that this morning. I can’t wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us.
Thanks to a friends book entitled: “Invited to the Deep End – High Risk Living for Serious Christians” for the subheadings on this blog. Honest, Bill, I am not plagiarizing!
Hearing and Listening
Came by the church tonight to pray and meditate and tweak my message for tomorrow. Then it happened. I wasn’t expecting it to…but it did. I wasn’t ready for it but it happened anyway. I didn’t ask for it but it happened anyway. He spoke. He spoke to me. He spoke to me about you. He spoke to me about the service tomorrow. He caused me to “change up” my message for tomorrow. Yep…He did it again.
I love my relationship with the Holy Spirit. I pray that as you draw near to Him He will draw near to you. I want you to hear the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. Oh there are times He will “mess” you up…but He will always be right! He will always be on time. He will always be sensitive to you if you are sensitive to Him. He is a Gentleman. He will not compete with other voices. He wants His voice heard but he will not compete with any other voices. You and Him. He wants your ear.
A friend of mine, Bishop Bill Isaacs wrote in one of his books titled “Invited to the Deep End” about “high risk living for serious Christians” some awesome principles for life challenges and spiritual dynamics for everyday living. Let me “steal” one or two of them from chapter six of his book.
Paul wrote in Acts 20.23 that the Holy Spirit “testifies to me in every city.” Isaacs goes on to write some subheadings to this chapter on hearing the Holy Spirit.
Paul heard from the Holy Spirit in a personal way and you can rest assured that when the Holy Spirit finished – it was for the edification of the body of Christ. He speaks to us personally to edify the church and to both confirm and affirm us in our relationship with Him.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that my favorite passage in scripture is Psalm 46.10 “Be still and know that I am God.”
The Holy Spirit really does want to communicate the will of the Father to us. If somehow we could silence the unnecessary voices to hear the One necessary voice – life for us on a daily basis would be much easier.
We all have a desire to know about tomorrow. The problem is not in knowing – it’s how we go about seeking future knowledge. From witchcraft to palm readers who market themselves like Kroger does grocery items – there is an abundance of venues for knowing…or attempting to know the future. There is only one true method of knowing the future – know the One who knows the future. The operative in that statement is the word “One”. There is only One who can reveal the future with precision. Several times in Scripture God used incidents and people to speak to Paul about his life and his life journey. Yet there was always that clear distinctive voice of the Holy Spirit.
Seek Him out. Let the Holy Spirit speak to your spirit man.
As we move into Forward Motion Faith throughout this fast I want to encourage you again – take time to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Be still…very still and listen with a tender heart. He will speak. Trust me. His Word is at stake and He is not a liar. Are you listening?
Party Faith
I know. Here we go again. I am a grandfather and I’m making it a habit of watching her and using her life, actions and growth patterns to illustrate faith. I can’t really help it. I could I guess…but why would I? Really, people…give me a break!
I went to my granddaughter’s second birthday party tonight. I wasn’t a big deal, no bells and whistles. Just some family and friends that Josh and Natalie had invited who also brought along their children. I can tell you this – I would never make a good day care manager. Oh my Lord! It was awesome to watch as a guest but I in no way could run a day care with 12 or 15 kids running around with energy that flows in from outer space somewhere! Amazing to watch and fun to interact with! I loved it! Of course my granddaughter was cool during the whole event.
Josh and Natalie’s guests laughed, shared stories, ate soup (most were fasting) and watched the kids play and eat cool mini cupcakes Natalie had made. By the way, my daughter-in-law makes a mean potato soup! As usual, I begin seeing some parallels to our faith life. I will call this blog tonight “party faith.” Yeah! Forward Motion Party Faith!
I watched the kids play tonight and was reminded of something Jesus himself said.
What was Jesus talking about? Party faith. Plain and simple. You see I watched the kids play tonight. I watched them eat their cupcakes, potato chips, soup and yes, the ever-present manna from heaven at all parties – pizza! (Of course after fasting for nearly two weeks I was drooling like a crazy man at the sight of mere pepperoni on a pizza. But my discipline held off and I managed to stay with the soup!) I remembered that Jesus said that if we don’t receive the kingdom of God as a child we would not enter into it. Pretty powerful statement!
Let me share with you some observations I made tonight:
Wouldn’t it be cool if our fasting season taught us to approach the kingdom of our Lord the same way these kids played tonight? Dependent on Him at all times! Allowing Him to serve us His will for spiritual dietary needs! Let Him care for our hurts without our holding grudges or even being unforgiving! Work out our differences with childlike respect of each other. Last but not least moving forward in faith with such innocence that evil and the forces of darkness don’t even warrant as much as a second thought from us – because after all, our Father is watching over us.
Fast people, fast. Approach the kingdom as a child.
What was that? A little more broccoli? Come on Dad? Oh alright…you know better than I what I need!
Life Interrupted
There’s something about the guy. I would have loved to have lived in his day. I am referring to the apostle Paul. As most of you know outside of Christ he is my most favorite Bible character. I love to read about him, research him and bring him to my listener’s attention as frequently as I can get away with. One reason I think most of us can relate to him is that his life was, well…interrupted quite radically. But as radically as his life was interrupted – was as radical as was his faith in his “post interruption” life.
You know the story in Acts 9 when Saul has an encounter with Christ. He is knocked off of his high horse, blinded and led by someone for three days. This political zealot who thought he was doing God a favor by locking up and even killing Christians – had a radical life interruption that dramatically changed this man forever. Stop here!
Has your “life interruption” encounter with Christ radically and dramatically changed your life? Are you pretty much the same person you were before meeting Christ as you are after meeting Christ? It was this man’s life encounter with Jesus that turned him inside out and upside down. This man an orthodox Jew in a Gentile city would impact not only cities, politicians, governments and most of all, impact the world of darkness and evil – had a faith encounter with Christ that absolutely changed him forever. Not for a day. Not just while things were going well. Not just when his friends supported him. Not just when the sun was shining. Not just when he was comfortable or safe. Paul’s radical encounter with Jesus changed him – body, soul and spirit.
I can hope for nothing less than Paul the apostle’s experience to be a pattern for me to follow. I cannot compete with this man. I cannot become a 21st century Paul the apostle. But what I can do is follow his advice. Look at how many times Paul has the confidence to say something about himself that few would ever have the confidence to say:
1 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.
1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
1 Thessalonians 1:6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
See also 2 Thessalonians 3.7 “follow our example”; Galatians 4.12 “become as I am”; Philippians 4.9 “practice [what you have learned, heard, seen in me]”.
Oh you have to be getting this by now! Paul was so confident in his relationship with Christ he challenged others to spiritually imitate him. Think about that for a moment. How many dads can honestly say to their children – “imitate me”? How many mothers can say to their children – “imitate me”? How many Christian leaders can say to their followers, “imitate me”? We have had so many so called Christian leaders fall in the last 20-25 years that high profile ministry has become a joke to the Western mindset. Paul did something few of us can do with the level of confidence he had in doing it – tell someone to imitate us. Was he saying to his followers: do what I do, say the things I say, act the way I act? No. It was a deeper meaning than that. This is powerful people – powerful.
Paul didn’t set out to create clones of himself! He knew better. That wasn’t what he was charged with doing. He wasn’t after setting trends for clothing, spiritual resources, spiritual language or an evangelical robot. He was, I believe, setting a standard of service to be followed. Think about these passages:
1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul was setting a standard, a pattern of service. He was an ego maniac who wanted to create little “Paul robots”! He wasn’t about cloning himself. He was about saying to his followers, “Imitate my service.” There is no greater example one can set for his followers than to model the ultimate pattern of living for Christ – self-sacrifice.
What about you? Have you arrived at the point in your spiritual life where you can say to anyone in your spiritual wake – “imitate me”? Again, you don’t have to be a “little Paul”. You don’t have to look like him, act like him, speak like him or dress like him. What Paul was advocating was you and I imitating his self-sacrifice in service to the Lord. In the three passages I gave you above you can discover this about Paul:
Have you arrived at this place yet? I hope and pray that during this season of fasting you can arrive at a deep and intimate relationship with Christ where your devotion for Him is unparalleled; you gain a willingness to give your life for Christ if need be; and finally, you grab hold of the conviction that moves your forward at all times – never stopping or slowing down. A place where spiritually neutrality becomes something of a curse word to you.
I started a new series tonight at church titled “Me”. The idea of the series will be to connect ourselves with Christ in fresh and intimate way. It was great! The series got off to a great start (my point of view and biased I might add)! I am so excited about challenging our congregation to growing in Christ. If you have not been attending our mid-week class in I invite you to start. If you cannot come on Wednesday nights I want you to pick up the CD from the class. I believe the class will challenge you to a new level of Forward Motion Faith.
I read somewhere recently an article about “success”. I can’t for the life of me remember where I read the article so I can’t give anyone due credit. I remember it was about the “3 P’s of Success”. I remember the three P’s: Pause, Process and Pace. I remember the article was directed toward introverts. I guess I was more impressed with the title than I was the content (totally understand this because folk have remembered some of my sermon titles more than they did the sermon). Go figure! Anyway, back to my blog point of these three P’s.
Let me take the three P’s and direct them toward a process for intimacy with Christ. Let’s start with Pause. Practically speaking one needs to pause in their everyday experiences to strengthen their relationships with the Lord. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Psalm 46.10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Reason being is that in our busy lifestyles we all need to focus on time with God. We are never too busy to spend time with Him. In order to do that, we need to simply “pause.” Take time. Take time to sit in His presence. Don’t say anything. Don’t ask Him for anything. Just sit in His presence. Meditating is unspoken thoughts about God, who He is and how He affects our life. Take the time to meditate. Pause and consider Him who has given His life for you.
Next is the word “process.” I use this word a lot. I use in counseling or giving direction for personal life experiences. I usually instruct people to “process this out” or I will say something like “we all process thoughts differently.” According to the dictionary the word “process” means “the action of going forward; course; a series of actions directed to some end.” I know that sounds academic but it is what it is. The point of this definition is to help us understand that once we have paused with Him, we need to process what we have gained in our devotion time with Him. I encourage folk that this “pause” time should be deliberate. It should be focused. It should be comfortable. It should not be filled with anxiety or weariness. Our time with the Lord should be processed. In other words we need to take a “series of actions toward an end.” In other words once we have paused we need to engage actions toward an end. Our intimacy with Christ, our devotion time should motivate us toward action. Choosing to act on Scripture. Choosing to act on the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. James 1.23 instructs us to become a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Processing – actions toward an end.
Third is the word “pace”. I think the intention here is to pace yourself in devotion time. Don’t rush your prayer time. Don’t feel like there is a set time to hear from Him. For instance if you don’t “get anything” from the Lord within a certain amount of time – don’t condemn yourself. I have actually gone days without “hearing from the Lord.” Oh the Word has been inspiration and academically challenging but as for hearing from the Holy Spirit in direct and distinctive way – not always. Pacing yourself allows you to persevere with passion. Knowing He speaks will be enough to bring you back to Him. Paul wrote to Timothy and said that the Holy Spirit will speak expressly in the last days (1 Timothy 4.1). We know the Holy Spirit will speak. We just have to be in a position to hear Him. Pacing ourselves in our prayer/devotion time will put us in the place to hear Him. Pace yourself. It’s your prayer/devotion time. There is no one to compete with – it’s you and Him. Pace yourself. Take time to know Him.
Pause, process and pace. The Three P’s of Success in prayer and devotion time. Try them. Put them to work. Come on…were burning daylight!
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