An Ugly Lie

An ugly lie is running wild in our churches & in our lives. It's the reason why there doesn't seem to be real connections & relationships happening. It's why so many worship leaders are frustrated that those they lead seem to be going through the motions or disengaged. It's part of the reason so many believers & church members are so tired. Ready for the lie that we so often believe? Here it is:

Spiritual Maturity=Self-Sufficiency

Now remember, you would never say you believe this with your lips, but what about with your life? We sometimes think that a solid, mature Christian either has no problems or can handle all of the problems that they do have. However, deep inside, in those places where we actually face reality, we know our lives are a wreck, but we can't let anybody know. What will they think? After all, a growing, mature believer shouldn't deal with this. So we try to fix ourselves. The only problem is that we couldn't fix ourselves before Jesus, & we still can't fix ourselves after Jesus. Only Jesus transforms us. Could it be that the heights of spiritual maturity are actually marked by radical self-insufficiency, a radical awareness of our deep, constant need for the work of God in & through us? 

Consider these words from Lamentation 3:22-23, "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." How about that? God extends new mercy to His people everyday. Maybe that's because we need His mercy poured out, like new, everyday. We have to guard ourselves & our churches from the lie that the goal is self-sufficiency. In fact, it's just the opposite; we're to grow more & more dependent on God as we become more grounded & more mature in our faith.

AND

"The evil habit of seeking 'God and' effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the ‘and’ lies our great woe. If we omit the ‘and’, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."

These are the words of A.W. Tozer in his classic The Pursuit of God. They were written well over 60 years ago but are just as relevant to our 21st century world. Most believers fail to encounter & experience God because they are seeking God and something else. In so doing, they effectively negate the part of them that might pursue God. God requires a single minded pursuit of Him. Pursuing His will, His plan, His protection, or His blessings is no substitution for simply pursuing Him. In pursuing Him, we find Him, we come to know Him, & eventually we find & experience all those other things that we have longed to find.

What is your "and"? What have you attached to your pursuit of God? How can you cut it loose & simply & purely pursue God & God alone?

Opinion Vs. Perspective

Here's a post I shared previously on another site. I thought it might be helpful to those of you in any form of leadership.

I had an interesting conversation the other day about the varying opinions that anyone in leadership inevitably faces. Sometimes, literally every position on an issue or idea is represented in a group, & sometimes positions you didn't think existed are represented! 

So how do you know which opinions are more worthy of your time & recognition? After all, a leader can't act on every opinion that is expressed, much less the ones that are never voiced. One of the most effective ideas I've stumbled across (and believe me I stumbled onto it) is to draw a distinction between people who have an opinion & people who have perspective. It may sound like I'm splitting hairs, but there's something to this.

Think about it. Everybody has opinions. Even if it's a topic that we haven't given a lot of thought to, if someone asks what we think, we'll give our opinion on it. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it. It's just how we are. However, perspective requires something more than just talking about what we think.

Perspective Requires Investment.

People with opinions "think". People with perspective "know". People with perspective have invested themselves into something enough that their opinion is actually based on experience. You don't have to have that in order to form an opinion. There's nothing wrong with having an opinion & sometimes there's nothing wrong with voicing it, but the best opinions are really built on having a realistic perspective of the situation. Investment leads to perspective which leads to discernment. 

So the next time you're confronted with a bunch of "opinions", try to figure out which opinion is really perspective, & that's relatively easy. Simply ask, "Is this person invested?" Are they invested in you? Are they invested in the ministry? Are they invested in the business? Whatever the issue is, are they really invested? Not merely emotionally invested, but have they put in some sweat equity & time equity? Have they invested themselves into it?

You Are Invited

This weekend we started our Christmas message series at Zebulon Baptist Church. In this series we're looking at what a lot of people consider to be one of the more boring sections of Scripture. However, if you dig into it, you'll discover it's one of the most fascinating. In Matthew 1, the gospel writer is working to establish Jesus' bloodline in order to assert that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. However, as Matthew records Jesus' family tree, he includes people that for one don't have to be included, & secondly, that you wouldn't want to include if you didn't have to. These people are shady, scandalous characters lurking in Jesus' heritage. As you look you discover that Jesus' pedigree is filled with scandalous, sinful people. And these folks aren't run of the mill sinners. These people are monumental, award winning kind of sinners. So why would Matthew include these people if he didn't have to?

The answer to why Matthew included these people in Jesus' story is found in Matthew's story. Because you see, Matthew lived that kind of scandalous, shady life. He was a religious & social outcast because of the life he chose. In fact, Matthew's level of sin had its own category in his culture. Imagine "those people" that you sort of set aside because of their sin & set them apart from the rest of us sinners; well, that's who Matthew was. Then we see something happen in Matthew 9 that would have shocked everyone, including Jesus' disciples. Jesus invited Matthew to follow Him. That's right, Jesus, the perfect, holy, sinless Son of God, invited Matthew, the tax collector, the outcast, the irredeemable, to follow Him, to be a part of Jesus' inner circle. When you think about that, all of a sudden it becomes clear why Matthew would choose these scandalous characters in Jesus' family tree: Matthew understood them. Matthew was one of them. To him it made perfect since to include the scandalous & shameful in Jesus' bloodline & thus in the Christmas story.

"Sinners Are A Part Of Jesus' Story 

Because They're The Point Of Jesus' Story."

Matthew didn't leave out the scandal that surrounded Jesus' family because most of us have some sort of skeleton in the closet as well. Most all of us have backstories we would rather not talk about. Some of us have family scandals, & here's the good news. Jesus had that stuff lurking in His backstory too. Jesus came for all those scandals & all the skeletons that we have in our closets. All the mistakes, all the foolish decisions, all the sin, that's why Jesus came. He came so that your backstory could have a happy ending. He came so that those shady, scandalous lives could be redeemed through His perfect, sinless sacrifice. It's only natural that a man like Matthew would understand & make sure that from the beginning of his gospel that everyone who read it would realize that Jesus came from a long line of sinners, but He came for those sinners. That means we are all invited, just like Matthew, to trust & to follow the perfect, sinless Son of God. How will you respond to that invitation? 

Making The Temporary Echo In Eternity

In the opening scene of "Gladiator" Russell Crowe's character is preparing his men for a great battle. One line that he uses to inspire these men to fight for their empire & possibly give their lives for their empire is this, "What we do in life echoes in eternity." The truth in that statement is powerful. What we do here & now matters. The choices we make matter. It's easy for those of us who follow Jesus to see the truth in this statement. However, we do have a habit of compartmentalizing our lives so that we think some things really matter but other things aren't really that big a deal. We typically look at the things that "really" matter & call them spiritual. Those other things are worldly & aren't really that big a deal. The only problem is that Jesus blows a hole in that way of thinking. In Luke 16, Jesus instructs His people to use their worldly wealth for eternity. In 1st Timothy 6, Paul instructs Christ followers to "be rich in good deeds & generosity in order to lay up a firm foundation in the coming age (eternity)." So even the things we might consider "worldly" matter. What we do with our "worldly wealth" matters. Where we invest that stuff matters.

"Followers Of Christ Must Find Ways To Use 

 Our Temporary Things For Eternal Impact."

We all have a little bit of time in this world, & we all have a little bit of opportunity with the resources we have to impact eternity. We smile & feel all warm & fuzzy when we read stories of people "paying it forward" at Starbucks & buying coffee for their fellow man. Why don't we get just as excited about the idea that we can leverage our temporary blessings to be an eternal blessing? Why don't we feel all warm & fuzzy when we hear about a ministry that we have the opportunity to support? Is it because we don't see that payoff? Think about it this way: when you invest in eternity, why would you expect to see the fruit of that invest outside of eternity? Sure, God could bless you for your faithful investment in eternity by giving you an extra financial blessing, but He's under no obligation to. To assume that He does is simply our trying to manipulate Him. We're investing in eternity. Therefore we can assume we won't see the fruit of it until we enter into eternity. Someday you will stand before your Heavenly Father & perhaps He'll show you how your faithfulness to invest in His Kingdom paid off by taking the Gospel to someone who responded in faith & was eternally transformed. That's a priceless payoff. Your investment in eternity can change someone's eternity. 

How can you start leveraging your temporary things for eternal impact? Can you open your home up for a small group or youth ministry to use? Can you donate to & volunteer in a local church's ministry that not only feeds & clothes people, but offers them the hope of the Gospel? Is there a ministry or missions organization that you can invest in financially that will take the Gospel to the ends of the earth so that those who haven't heard the hope that they can have in Jesus? Your temporary stuff matters. It can have an eternal impact, but you have to invest it in eternity.

Why We Have To Talk About Money

At Zebulon Baptist Church, we're currently in the middle of a series on stewardship, finances, & generosity. Talking about stewardship, especially the financial aspect of it, is always an awkward conversation, but we've got to have it. In fact when you think about it, some of the most awkward conversations you've ever had were also some of the most important. As pastors, ministry leaders, & just as brothers & sisters in Christ, we have to talk about money. We just have to.

"Stewardship Is Bigger Than Just Our Finances, 

But It Often Hinges On Our Finances."

Scripture makes it crystal clear that we're stewards of our entire life, not just our physical, material blessings. We're stewards of this world, our bodies, our relationships, our opportunities, & yes, our stuff. God isn't trying to take your stuff; He's trying to win your heart. However, how we honor God with our stuff often reflects whether He really has our hearts. In order to fight to keep our hearts surrendered to our Heavenly Father, we have to fight the urge to trust in & chase after the things of this world. We have to talk about money because...

• Money makes promises it can't keep
• Financial problems tear families apart
• When you love or chase after stuff, there's never enough
• Your life is bigger than your bank account
• Eternal things are more valuable than temporary toys

These are all things we know are true, but we often live as if these truths don't apply to us. We think we can somehow be the exception, but along the way we surrender our hearts to our stuff. As we seek to grow in faithful stewardship, our first priority is to surrender our lives & hearts to Jesus. However, we literally can't afford to disconnect that from the day to day practical implications of what it means to completely & totally surrender your life to Jesus. Surrender means total, unconditional submission.

Stewardship is bigger than our finances, but it often hinges on our finances. That means we have to be intentional in guarding our hearts from the pull of this world. We do that by being rich in good deeds & generosity toward God & others. How can you combat the greed that lurks in all of our hearts by generously blessing those around you & investing in God's Kingdom?

It's A Trap!

The average American is trapped. In fact, the average Christ follower in America is trapped. It's an epidemic. It touches just about every family. It's an obstacle that every church has to deal with. Most everyone you will meet today is caught in this trap. What trap has sprung on us & has so many of us caught in its snare? 

Check your pocket or purse. That's probably where you keep your own personal trap. Look out in your garage, pull out your phone, take a quick look at your closet because you may have some more traps in there too. The trap that so many of us are caught in is the trap of serving our money & our stuff. The average American is carrying a debt of $15,000 just on their credit cards. And when you look at the total consumer debt in America & spread it out over our entire population, we all owe close to $37,000, even our children! Obviously we have a problem. We're caught. We're caught in the trap of chasing after & serving our money, our things, our toys, & it's not just messing up our national economy; it's destroying families.

So what do we do about it? How can we escape the trap or avoid it altogether? After all, our economy is designed to trap us. Businesses produce products that we didn't know we needed until we saw it. Then we can't imagine how we survived one day without that product. We'll take a perfectly good product we've had less than a year so that we can "upgrade" to the newer model. The system seems to be working against us. So what do we do?

Jesus has a lot to say about all sorts of areas of life, but especially money. If He wasn't teaching specifically about it, He was using it as a vehicle to teach a bigger truth. Jesus knew something. He knew that money gets our attention, & anything that gets our attention can get our hearts. So He didn't shy away from the topic. Instead, some of His most important teaching centered on money. In Matthew 6 Jesus warns us about which riches we're storing up, which kingdom we're building. We can invest in & build God's Kingdom, or we can invest in & build our own. Jesus warns us because when we build our kingdom, it's temporary. Someone can take it away, we can lose it, but when we invest in God's Kingdom, it's eternal & secure. Jesus goes on to point out that when you serve your stuff, worry is the automatic by-product. His whole warning is summed up when He says, "You cannot serve God & money."

Our money, our stuff is God's chief rival for our hearts & our devotion. When we serve our stuff, we find worry, tension, & an endless list of "What Ifs" that keep us chasing that next dollar or that next toy. When we serve our Savior, we find peace, joy, & contentment that is bigger than our circumstances. Jesus says, "Seek first God's Kingdom..."

"We Set Our Hearts Free From The Trap Of Serving Riches 

By Serving The One Who Richly Provides."

So what's that look like in real life? Here's a simple way to trust God over your stuff: start giving away some of your stuff. When we hoard or consume everything that we have, we're exposing the greed in our hearts, & we're steadily walking down the path toward trusting in & serving our riches. And by the way, this is true no matter your income or tax bracket. However, when we give, especially when we invest in God's Kingdom, we're putting something else at the top of our list. We're placing ourselves underneath something else. We're also moving toward a greater sense of dependence on our Father who provides for us, & in the process we discover ever greater depths of His faithfulness to us.

So how can you begin to invest in & build God's Kingdom rather than your own? How can you reprioritize your financial decisions to reflect trust in & service to your Heavenly Father & Your Savior?

That Awkward Moment...

We've all been in awkward situations. Blind dates, first dates, getting caught in a lie, wearing the same outfit as someone else at an event, they're all examples of when things get awkward & the tension goes up. In fact, we're all so worried about awkward situations or conversations that we've come up with some social rules to try to keep us from getting into one of those weird, awkward, tense moments. 

Here are just a few examples:

"Never talk about religion or politics."
"Never assume a woman is pregnant."
"Never ask a woman her age."
"Never ask a woman her weight."

Notice how some of these that I just thought of off the top of my head revolve around not asking women sensitive things? That's because most of us men are too oblivious to realize there are some things you just don't do. Therefore rules had to be made to keep us out of trouble. Well, there's a similar rule that is at play in a lot of churches. It's an unwritten, even unspoken, rule, but it's alive & well in most places because it's an issue that always ramps up the tension & makes everyone feel a little awkward. So we end up ignoring this issue, but in ignoring we also ignore an issue that Jesus, whom we claim to follow, talked about a lot. Doesn't it seem weird to avoid a subject our Savior talked about so much & therefore miss out on what He had to say about it? So what is this issue? What is this thing we don't really like talking about, even if it means completely missing out on what Jesus had to say about it?

It's money.

That's right, money. Nobody likes talking about it, not pastors & certainly not the people the pastors are talking to about it. It makes us all a little uneasy. However, not talking about it may cost us more than actual wading into a tense subject.

When Jesus was confronted with the issue of money, politics, & religion in Luke 20:20, he didn't focus as much on money as we might think. The point He made was this, "Give to God what belongs to God." He used the money as a vehicle to teach a powerful truth. The coin was made in the image of Caesar. Humanity is made in the image of God. The lesson: If Caesar asks for the thing made in his image, give it to him, but more importantly make sure you give to God the thing made in His image. In that little exchange Jesus taught us a powerful lesson about money, faith, & the biblical concept of stewardship.

"Stewardship Is Not About Your Money. Stewardship Is About Your Life."

Jesus had an opportunity to go in depth about money in this moment, but instead He chose to look at the big picture. The truth is that it doesn't really matter who you dedicate your life to if you dedicate your life to the wrong thing. God has made us in His image. Therefore, everything about you should be leveraged to glorify Him: your day to day life, your family, your relationships, your work, your ministry, & yes, your money & stuff. As followers of Jesus, we are not only made in God's image, we've been bought with a price by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we must seek to live a life that in every way declares our faith in Him rather than in ourselves or in the things of this world. Stewardship isn't about money. It's about a journey of faith where we seek to live a life that is constantly more & more devoted to trusting in our Heavenly Father, His Son, & His word.

What step of faith have you been resisting? Reading God's word more consistently? Becoming the godly parent your children need? Being the spouse you're called to be in Christ? Serving your congregation community? Trusting God with your finances? No matter which one of these you're wrestling with, they're all stewardship issues. After all, stewardship is not about your money. It's about your life.

It's Not Either Or, It's Both And

All churches & all followers of Jesus tend to drift. We're human. It's impossible for us to maintain perfect holiness. Even Paul recognized this in himself when he wrote in Romans 7, "for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Even with good intentions, the flesh has a way of rising up. That means we have to guard against that drift in our lives & in our congregations. However, that drift isn't just a drift toward overt, obvious sin. In fact, for many of us who have been in church most of our lives, it's the drift toward self-righteous, rule following legalism that we have to fight against. It's that tendency to look at the lost with disgust & say, "why can't you get your life straight?" Then when those who recognize their distance from God dares to muster the courage to enter our churches we think, "I can't believe their here." We think that before we or God can accept them, they have to get some other things right. The good news is that this isn't a new tendency. In fact it goes all the way back to the days of the early church.

In Acts 15, Paul & Barnabas have been reaching non-Jews with the Gospel, & God has been saving these Gentiles & bringing them into His people, His church. However, some Jewish believers from down around Jerusalem show up & say, "Hold on, before you can become a follower of Christ, you have to become a follower of Moses." That means they were adding the Law to the Gospel. They were beginning to make the Law the means by which people were admitted into the fellowship of the Church. This set Paul off. After all, he had been preaching the simple message of salvation through faith in Christ & Christ alone. Now these new converts were being saddled with the burden of over 600 laws & of the men, a small but sensitive surgical procedure. So what's Paul to do? What are the leaders of the early church to do? Who is the Church for? What exactly is the Gospel? What does someone have to do to be saved?

In Acts 15 there is intense debate but the input of two men settled the discussion, & their words should guide us now, 2000 years later. In Acts 15:7, Peter stands up & gives testimony to his own experience of how God led him to take the Gospel to a Gentile family & how he has seen God reach out to the non-Jewish world & bring them in with no distinction between them & the Jews. Regardless of their ethnicity or religious background, God had purified their hearts by faith. If that wasn't enough, Jesus' brother James stands up & says, "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to Christ." The issue was settled.

Yes, these non-Jewish believers came from a different background without the Law of Moses & because of that they had some habits & customs that the Jews found offensive. However, that had nothing to do with their standing before God in Christ. It had nothing to do with whether or not the church was for them or not. The stand that those early church leaders took that day is vitally important for us today because we have certain issues that we look at & point at & say that people have to get this right before they will be expected, & we usually have a verse to back it up. However, we don't always reflect Christ-likeness in the process. After all, John says in his gospel that Jesus was "full of grace & truth." That means that we should pursue a life full of grace & truth as we pursue a life that looks more & more like Christ.

"Instead Of Drifting Toward Grace Or Truth, We Should Stand On Both."

Personally I know more Christians & church goers who struggle with the drift toward truth than the drift toward grace. We love truth. It draws a clear line in the sand, & when someone crosses it, we can point it out. However, that kind of drift ends up using the truth as a weapon. We should never ignore sin, but we should confront that sin with grace just as Jesus did. Jesus never excused sin. Instead he confronted sin with compassion & graciously invited people to a better way, namely Him. As you look at how you or your congregation engages with the world around you, do you see the drift toward law & legalism in your life? As you think about how you can fight against the drift toward grace OR truth & instead stand on both, ask yourself this:

What Would Happen If The Lost People In My Life 

Viewed Me The Same Way The Lost Viewed Jesus?

Jesus never had a problem attracting or reaching the lost. In fact, they usually loved Him. So if Jesus' people are having trouble engaging lost people, is it the fault of the lost people or the Jesus people?

Inconvenient Faith

Convenience: Americans love it. In fact, much of our lives are built around the pursuit of convenience. Now, there's nothing wrong with convenience; some conveniences make life a lot easier & less stressful. However, most of us have taken our desire for convenience to an unhealthy level. In fact, many of us have crossed over from having an appreciation for the conveniences in life to worshipping ourselves by feeding our desires for comfort & convenience. This is dangerous enough on its own, but when this infiltrates our faith, it becomes deadly to our effectiveness as followers of Jesus. After all, if we love convenience, comfort, & self that much, it will be really hard for us to radically, boldly love Jesus.

When we look at the early church in Acts we see them living boldly, praying for even more boldness, & then living with an even greater boldness. However, that greater boldness wasn't without its consequences. At first, they just spent the night in jail & were threatened, but as their boldness grew so did the pressure, the tension, & yes, even the potential of suffering. In fact, at the end of Acts 5 the disciples learned that the Sanhedrin's threats were not idle threats. The Sanhedrin had them viciously flogged for preaching the name of Jesus. So how did the disciples respond when all of a sudden they not only were a little inconvenienced by their faith but were outright suffering for it? They rejoiced; they celebrated that they had been counted as worthy. However, the suffering didn't end there. In Acts 6-8 we're introduced to an early church leader named Stephen. He was a bold, Spirit filled disciple, & it got him in trouble. In these chapters we see Steven arrested, falsely accused, & murdered for his bold faith in Jesus. In fact, this episode leads to an even greater persecution that was unleashed on the early church. However, look at what happens in Acts 8:1 & 8:4 as the persecution is unleashed.

"On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea & Samaria." 

Acts 8:1

"Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Acts 8:4

Notice two things: First, the persecution forced believers out of Jerusalem & into the regions of Judea & Samaria. Now think back to Acts 1:8. Jesus said that His disciples would be "witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, & to the ends of the earth" So Jesus' words are being fulfilled, but perhaps in an unexpected way: suffering. Secondly, notice who went into the regions of Judea & Samaria. It wasn't Peter. It wasn't John. It wasn't any of the big-shot leaders that we would expect. Those guys stayed in Jerusalem. The people who scattered were "regular people". It was people like you & me who broke the Gospel out of Jerusalem & advanced the Gospel into the surrounding world. This supports the image of the church being the Body of Christ where everyone plays a part. Everyone has a place in the church where they serve to help advance the Gospel & make disciples. However, there's an important truth we all must embrace to join with those brothers & sisters who have gone before us.

"In Advancing The Movement Of Jesus, 

We Must Be Willing To Pay The Price To Play Our Part."

You have a place in God's Kingdom. You have a place where your ministry, your witness, your boldness is vital to advancing the Gospel & making disciples to the ends of the earth. The question is "Are you willing to pay the price to play that part?" Boldly living for Christ invites opposition & yes, even the possibility of suffering. Following Jesus will be inconvenient. Following Jesus will cost us something. Are we willing to pay that price. As you wrestle with this & seek to boldly live for Christ ask yourself this question:

"If it depended on my boldness of faith, would the Gospel ever break out of my city?"

Jesus promised that the Gospel would advance, but often it advances when we embrace the inconvenience & even the possibility that following Him could lead us to suffer for Him. However, when people outside the church see Christ followers boldly follow Christ in the face of real sacrifice, it gets their attention. Will we pay the price to play our part in advancing this movement Jesus set in motion?

Blessed Out Of Boldness

Would you characterize most Christians you know as bold? Would you consider your own faith as bold? Many of us wouldn't & in many cases we would be right. After all, American Christians live in a culture that is still the easiest culture in history in which to be a faithful, Bible believing follower of Jesus. As a result we tend to look at bold faith as only that which we read about in the Bible or on the Internet. We read of ancient disciples who endured prison & persecution; we hear of brothers & sisters on the other side of the world who are dying because they confess the name of Jesus as Savior. When we look at how easy it is to be a Christian in America we assume that we can't really have a bold faith. 

The downside of our tremendous religious freedoms is that it seems to have made us less bold which could ultimately lead to the loss of our religious liberties. Of course, none of us think that our lack of boldness contributes to the eroding of religious freedom or cultural decline but we would be dead wrong. When an offended, possibly even anonymous, party writes a letter to a school about the pregame prayer at Friday night's football game & the school responds by caving in, who is really to blame? Is it the school board, the principle, or does a good share of responsibility lie at the feet of those of us who say we follow Christ? What if the people of God were just as publicly bold as those who oppose God publicly? What if we stood up for & spoke out against those who would love to see the name of Jesus removed from public life? See this isn't the first time this has happened, not even close.

In fact, just a few weeks after Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, & ascension, the Jewish religious leaders tried to eliminate "this name" from public conversation. Go read Acts 5. The apostles were threatened over & over for speaking about "this name". However, they could not stop talking about Jesus. Here we are today, 2000 years later, & "the name" is under attack still. Where is God's church rising up saying, "Sorry this name offends you, but we can stop speaking about what we've experienced in Him."?

Could it be that as American Christians we've been blessed out of boldness? Could it be that we are so afraid of being considered intolerant, mean, or offensive that what we become is weak, whiny disciples who allow the enemy to take more & more ground around us? It's time for the people of Jesus to rise up.

"Boldness Is Saying Or Doing Something 

When It Would Be Easier To Say Or Do Nothing."

What can you do today to boldly speak & live the name of Jesus. In Acts 4 the disciples prayed for boldness, & the truth is that when you pray for boldness what you're really praying for is the opportunities to be bold. When you sincerely pray that prayer, God will send you those opportunities or open your eyes to the opportunities that were there all along. Then what will you do? What will you say? It will always be easier to shrink back & fade into the background, to not risk offending anyone, but the Gospel is offensive. It confronts us with our desperate need, but it doesn't leave us there. Instead it introduces us to our hope, our redemption as we place our faith in Jesus.

What can you do today? How can you be bold at work, at school, at home for the name of Jesus & so that those who need to hear the Gospel will see it at work in you?

Let's Pray

What do you normally pray about? Think about it, what are the things that seem to always show up in your prayer time? Are your prayers marked by some of the things that my prayers are marked by?

"Thank You for the day..."
"Lord bless me..."
"Lord keep me..."
"Lord give me..."
"Lord protect me..."

You get the picture right? Do you notice something about most of our "prayer cliches"? The word "me" tends to find its way in there a whole lot, maybe even to the point of a really unhealthy obsession with me & mine. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with thanking God for the day or asking God to bless you or protect you. However, if that's the extent of your prayer life, maybe there's a reason why so many of us complain of a dry, uninspiring prayer life. When we look back at how the early church prayed in the book of Acts, it becomes even more convicting. In Acts 4 the actual words of a prayer of the early church is recorded, & sadly, it doesn't sound like my prayers or the prayers I often hear offered up in our congregations.

The background of the passage is that the Gospel is spreading. Peter & John have healed a man & preached the Gospel in the name of Jesus. That attracted the attention of the Sanhedrin, the political & religious elite of Israel, & oh by the way, big opponents of Jesus. The arrest Peter & John, throw them in jail overnight, interrogate them, & threaten them before releasing them. When Peter & John reunite with the other Christ followers, they pray. However, they don't pray like many of us would. They don't pray for wisdom as they formulate a security plan for the apostles. They don't pray for funding so that they bail the apostles out of jail & keep a defense attorney on retainer. Instead in Acts 4:29 they ask God to enable them to speak boldly the name of Jesus. Wait a minute. Don't they already have boldness? Isn't boldness the very thing that landed them in trouble to begin with? Yes, but they pray for even more boldness. However, they're not praying for boldness simply for boldness' sake. They want to be bold so that those who are far from God may be reconciled to God through the Gospel of Jesus. Their prayers were intensely outwardly focused. Their prayers weren't for their own good but for the good of the lost. That's how the early church prayed, & the result was radical unity &  an explosive advancing of the Gospel. Is that how we pray? I know for me, the answer is usually a resounding "No". Yet there is a powerful & convicting truth that we should note here:

"How We Pray Indicates Whether We've Strayed."

The early church paved the way for all of us who were to come after. We don't have to emulate every little thing they did, but we should walk in their footsteps of faithfulness. And the way they prayed exposes the weak, timid, & self centered faith that many of us have. Do we pray with intensity & urgency that God would use us mightily so that the lost may be saved? Do we pray that God would enable us to be speak & live boldly in the name of Jesus? Or our are prayers focused on what we want or think we need. What if our prayers for protection are in someway in opposition to God using us for His glory & the salvation of the lost? What if the lost can only be reached by Christ followers living & speaking boldly & therefore risking their material comfort & security? 

What do your prayers say about whether or not you've strayed or how far you've strayed?

More Leaders Please

As we continue looking at the early days of the Church in the book of Acts, we see an important & probably awkward conversation take place in Acts 1. Peter stood up & pointed out an important issue that needed to be dealt with as they prepared for what God was going to do. They had to deal with a leadership vacancy created by that guy Judas that nobody really wanted to talk about. Judas was sort of the black eye of the group. He was the colossal failure that nobody in the church really wanted to bring up, but it had to be deal with. Peter understood that this created a leadership need that had to be dealt with, & the way Peter led the Church through that issue is amazing, especially when you consider that it was Peter. He used godly, scriptural based wisdom to lay out the need to replace Judas, the qualifications for the replacement, & the process by which the replacement would be chosen.

Coincidentally, this seems to be the last piece of the preparation puzzle for the Church before the Holy Spirit comes in Acts 2. However, this wasn't the last leadership issue that the Church would deal with. In Acts 6 the Church faces its first big controversy. The amazing thing is that the problem that arose came about because of the radical growth of new believers & disciples. The Church simply couldn't keep up organizationally. Therefore, there were people in need who weren't being ministered to because the Church was simply overwhelmed. Again Peter & the apostles masterfully lead God's people to a solution. And the solution wasn't for the leaders to do more; it was to have more leaders. Peter & the apostles had a specific call & ministry, & it wouldn't have been appropriate for them to neglect that calling in order to directly deal with this issue. Instead, more leaders needed to be set aside to handle this particular ministry. The result of this is seen in Acts 6:7 as even more people came to faith in Jesus, even Jewish priests serving at the Temple. These events teach us an important truth about the movement called Christianity.

"Growing Godly Leadership Is Vital To 

The Continued Growth Of The Movement Of Jesus."

No congregation on earth is exempt from this truth. In order for the Gospel to continue advancing & for more & more people to grow as disciples, more & more people must step up & lead. We all have influence. Therefore, we are all leaders, & as followers of Jesus we're called to use that influence to continually lead people to Jesus. Whether we're leading them toward saving faith or deepening faith, we're called to point people toward faith in Jesus. The only question is whether we are or not. For some of us this leadership will mean taking on an official role in your local congregation. For others it simply means taking advantage of the opportunities you have to lead people toward Jesus. Ask yourself these questions, "Who can I lead?" & "How can I lead them?" What can you begin to do to sow the Gospel into the lives of those you influence everyday? How you leverage that influence is absolutely essential & vital to the continued growth of this movement that Jesus launched 2000 years ago.

The Waiting

A long time ago Tom Petty said that "the waiting is the hardest part," & he's right. When we have a good idea, especially if we sense that God is guiding us, our inclination is to take off & get to work. However, many a good idea has met with its untimely demise due to the excitement that comes with the idea. We get caught up in the excitement & immediately try to get it done, but in the process we forget that many times the difference between success & failure is found in the waiting. Waiting & preparing gives us the opportunity to refine an idea, prepare ourselves & those we need to accomplish it, & to make sure our timing is as good as it can be. We understand this when it comes to business, financial planning, & other areas, but we often overlook this principle in the spiritual realm. However, Scripture is filled with references to the value of waiting on God. In fact, waiting was crucial to the launch of the Church in Acts 1 & 2.

Just before He ascended into heaven, Jesus gives His disciples the stirring mission found in Acts 1:8. He lays out that they've been called to reach the entire world with the good news of salvation through Him. Like anybody who would have experienced that, I'm sure the disciples were excited & ready to get to work & to tell people all that they had witnessed. However, just before He gives them this exciting mission, Jesus instructs them to go back to Jerusalem & simply wait. Remember, this group was led by a guy named Peter who was a pretty self-motivated doer. I don't think Peter liked waiting. I'm guessing he would have been miserable in a doctor's office or at the DMV, but when Jesus ascended into heaven, Peter led that small group of believers back into Jerusalem, & they waited. The gathered together & waited. Why wait? The simple answer is that they waited because they weren't quite ready to actually accomplish the mission that Jesus had given them because that mission hinged on something: the Holy Spirit. They had to wait for God to move before they could move, but they needed to be ready when He moved. This teaches us a valuable truth:

"We Can't Produce A Movement Of God, But We Can Prepare For One."

Neither Peter & those early disciples nor can we today produce a genuine movement of God. It is totally dependent upon His sovereignty & providence. However, we can be prepared to join Him when He does move. Notice what the disciples did when they returned to Jerusalem. They got away from the hustle & bustle & prayed. What did they pray? We don't know for sure, but I'm pretty confident there was some powerful, worshipful prayers, some deeply repentant confession, & some passionate prayers for the boldness that would be needed when the time came. Perhaps today we need to stop trying to manufacture a movement of God & simply create more opportunities for God's people to prepare themselves to join with God when He decides to pour out His Spirit in a fresh way. Finally, think about this for a moment. Will God move in a powerful & might way in our midst if we haven't prepared ourselves to be a part of that movement? Or will He choose to move among those who have done the work of preparing themselves to be used by God to advance the Gospel & make disciples? 

This episode of the early church's history ends with the disciples gathered to pray. Then the Holy Spirit shows up. They preach the Gospel & 3000 lives are changed as they repent & turn in faith to Christ. How will our little chapter of church history end? Who knows, but perhaps our willingness to prepare will determine how, when, & if God moves among us. We may not like waiting but perhaps waiting isn't just the hardest part, but it's also one of the most important parts.

Your Church Is Not The Church

Yes, you read that title correctly. Your church & my church is not The Church, that is if you define your church as that building you go to every Sunday to sing songs & study God's Word. However, I find myself automatically responding to the word "church" by thinking of a building or location. I envision the church I grew up in, the sanctuary, the Sunday School classes, my youth pastor's office, & the slide I fell off of when I was like 5. But that's not the church, & neither is that place you go to every week.

The truth is that while that building is used for a very holy thing, it's still bricks & mortar, wood & nails, wiring & plumbing. That building, that property is not the church. You are The Church & I am The Church. In the New Testament the word translated as "church" is the little Greek word "ekklesia" & it simply means the gathering. Throughout Scripture God's people are the key, not a place or a location. The Old Testament speaks of the "assembly" & the New Testament speaks of The Church, but the core truth is the same.

"The Church Is God's People Not The Location Of A Building."

If you think this is not a big deal, you couldn't be more wrong. Jesus launched the movement of Christianity & The Church when there was no building for them to meet in, & it grew faster than they could keep up with properties & facilities. In fact, it grew so quickly that it drew the not so nice attention of people who wanted to stamp it out, so gathering in a central location actually became a very dangerous thing. In fact, in many places in the world things haven't changed that much. The Church is the gathering of God's people around Jesus, His resurrection, & our mission. If you have a building, that's great, but it's not The Church. You are & that means you have a mission that can't be contained by the walls of your buildings or the boundaries of your property. You & I have a mission that is global in scope & eternal in significance. 

So remember church doesn't just happen when we gather on Sunday. It happens when you take the mission with you to work. It happens when you live out the transforming power of the Gospel in front of your family. It happens when you go to another believers home for small group or when you pray for a friend in their hospital room. When you & I, The Church, embraces our mission, we reconnect to the movement Jesus launched 2000 years ago when He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, & you will be my witnesses...to the ends of the earth." But when we reduce church to a place, we'll limit our ability to really fulfill our call as God's people.

People Over Structures

Structure is great. Anybody with a newborn gets that. You need that routine sometimes just to keep your sanity. And when that structure gets interrupted, look out. Structures are important, but structures have to reflect your current reality. You may feed a newborn every 2 to 3 hours & rock them to sleep afterward, but you don't do that with your teenager (hopefully). Why? Because the structure that was once beneficial to the child can actually become harmful as the situation changes.

The same is true in churches, businesses, schools, & other organizations. We need structure. It helps us organize what we do & keep people on the same page. However, those structures have to align with our context, & those structures should lead people toward fulfilling the mission & purpose of your ministry or organization.

"When People Serve Structures, The People Suffer.

   When Structures Serve People, The People Succeed."

Whenever a structure supersedes people, we as leaders are no longer leading our people to grow. We are crushing them under the weight of our structure. This usually occurs slowly over time. A structure is implemented, almost always an effective one, but then as time passes, the context changes & perhaps the structure isn't as effective as it once was. This is where leaders have a choice to make: change the structure to fit reality or force the people to fit the structure. As leaders we have to remember that first & foremost we lead people not structures, but when we prioritize a structure above a group of people, we've forgotten what we've really been called to do. The structures we implement & utilize have to serve the people we lead. Structures that serve the people lead the people to grow, serve others, & fulfill the mission of your ministry, team, or organization. However, when the people have to serve a structure it often drains them of the energy & passion necessary to fulfill the mission. 

Structures are necessary. Structures facilitate the progress & momentum of whatever group you lead. However, when considering structures, we have to start with our people & our context so that we implement structures that serve the people & set them up for success.

Going Viral

In today's YouTube, Facebook, & Twitter world, information is instantaneous. Whether it's a cat playing piano or a fake interpreter at a head of state's funeral, information is at our fingertips & within minutes of something happening, it can go viral & global.

Throughout the history of the church, revival & awakening movements have had a similar effect. What started in a specific place at a specific time & with a specific person seems to go viral as it spreads across a nation or even the globe. This dynamic should remind us of the important truth that even though God's work in us is intensely personal, it is not private. What God is doing in us is designed to spill out into the world around us.

"Revival Begins As God Moves Us To Look In,

But It Spreads As God Moves Us To Look Around."

As Psalm 51 begins to close, the work that God is doing in David's heart is beginning to move David to look around at others who need to experience the life changing, life giving hope that David had found in God's mercy & grace toward him. In Verse 13 David sees the need to teach people God's ways so that they might turn to God. In Verses 14-15 David is moved toward a lifestyle of gratitude for what God has done in his life. Finally, in Verse 16, David is reminded of an important truth about religion: God wants your heart before He gets your religion. Sacrifices & offerings mean nothing if you haven't first offered God your heart. Authentic religion, a life of thanksgiving, & a desire & burden to reach those far from God are all born out of the revival that was taking place in David's spirit. The work of God in David was moving David to let God work through him. 

Revivals can't be confined to your own life or congregation. It is designed to ooze out of you so that the world around you is touched by the mercy & grace of God. Revival begins as God invades our lives & confronts us with our sin. When we're broken & repentant over our sin, God does a work of renewal & revival in us, but that work was never meant to be kept to ourselves. Yes, it's personal, but it should never be private.

Renewed, Reshaped, & Reminded

In Psalm 51, David is confronted with his sin. He's broken over it & cries out to God for mercy, grace, & forgiveness. Beginning in verse 10 David asks God to "Create in me a clean heart O God & renew a steadfast spirit within me." In this section what God's work of renewing us looks like when we come to Him with genuine, broken repentance.

"God Renews Us By Reshaping Us & Reminding Us."

When David asks God to "create" & "renew" there are a couple of things we need to understand about those words. The Hebrew word David chose for "create" was the same word used in Genesis 1 when God created the universe. David's implication is that this new heart is something only God can create. David cannot do this work for himself; he needs God to intervene & replace his sinful heart. The word David chose for "renew" was often used to describe the process of polishing stones or sharpening metal. It implies the need to file away or sand away the pieces that don't allow the stone to reflect its beauty or the metal to serve the purpose for which it was designed. 

As David continues in verses 11 & 12, he is reminded of how his faithfulness impacts his usefulness. He had experienced God's gracious forgiveness but he's still concerned about God's Spirit being taken away. What's that about? Even though David had experienced God's grace, he remembered Saul. Saul's unfaithfulness & unwillingness to trust God caused him to be useless to God. God could not use him as king as long as Saul was unwilling to follow. That's Saul's legacy, & David didn't want it to be his. David also is reminded that his joy comes from the salvation that he has experienced in God. David, like many of us, had been seduced by the temptation that he could find satisfaction, fulfillment, peace, & joy in pursuing his desires & the things of this world. On the other side of that pursuit however, David was left with an even bigger hole in his life. The only thing that could give David real, lasting joy was the salvation of God. David needed to be reminded of that joy so that it could be restored in his life.

All of us have places where we need the edges filed down or polished so that we can reflect God's work in our lives & be used for His glory. And there are many times where we need to be reminded that joy is only found in our relationship with God through Christ. The things of this world always promise more than they can deliver & always cost more than we think. God wants to do a work of renewal in us so that we can do to new places of intimacy with our Heavenly Father, but we must be broken so that He can begin to renew us by reshaping us & reminding us.

The Breakthrough Of Brokenness

This weekend I began a new message series at ZBC. I've been hearing a lot lately about the need for revival in America. However, what I actually hear people talking about & praying for is not revival. What they're recognizing the need for is another great gospel awakening in America. Sadly, many church members & believers pray desperately for an awakening in this nation, yet we're often unwilling to confess our own part in the problem of sin. See, revival is necessary, but it's not for the lost. Revival is for those of us who follow Jesus. According to Scripture when we come into this world, we're spiritually still-born. There is no life in us. You can't revive that. Revival is for the one who once was living but has become unconscious. When God supernaturally invades the lives of His people & renews them spiritually for Kingdom ministry, then revival happens. God does a work of of renewal in us so that we are reinvigorated & released to take the Gospel to a lost world. In fact, when you look back through history the great gospel awakenings of history were sparked by revival in the lives of God's people. In addition to that, the revival among God's people was sparked when they came to grips with their sin & were broken over it.

"In Order For Revival To Break Out,

We Must First Be Broken Over Our Sin."

We see this principle radically on display in the life of David as he cries out to God for mercy in Psalm 51. David had been confronted with his sin with Bathsheba, & he was genuinely broken over his sin. He cried out to God for mercy not based on his past goodness but because of God's unfailing, covenant love. He knew he needed to confess his sin, not try to manage it. He knew that the only hope he had was for God, in His grace & mercy, to expunge his record & to restore David to Himself. Before David could be used by God, he had to be reconciled to God, & only God could bring about that reconciliation.

The same is true today for God's people. If we want to see the lost come to faith in Christ, then we must take the Gospel to them. However, if we want to be used by God to reach the lost, we must walk in fellowship with Him, & the thing that will keep us out of fellowship with God is our sin. It's only when we're hit with the depth of our sin & are broken over our sin that we can truly repent of it. Our sin is an assault on God & an attempt to usurp His authority, yet in His grace He has made a way to forgive the rebellious usurpers.

Walking through the valley of brokenness is the first step to climbing the mountaintop of revival. We are all wrestling with self & sin. We have a simple choice: to be broken over our sin or broken by our sin. When we allow the Holy Spirit to convict us & break us over our sin, we are renewed & revived, but when we run from God's conviction we will eventually be broken by our sin & its consequences.

Are You Involved?

Last week I wrote a little bit about the gap between attending a local church & serving in a local church & how the gap between those two realities is the very gap that keeps most people & congregations frustrated in their faith.

Somehow we've bought into a faith that is neatly confined to our favorite seat on Sunday morning. Somehow we've bought into the lie that somehow we get to retire from ministry at some point. As a result, most congregations are stretched to their limits because those serving in those congregations are stretched to the limit. It's time for all of us to get involved in what God is doing. We all have "reasons" why we don't: ability, time, etc. Jesus cuts through all those excuses today the way He did when He told His disciples in Matthew 14:18, "Bring them here to me." Whatever you have, bring it.

"You'll Never Know What God Can Do With What You Have

Until You Bring Him What You Have."

The backdrop of that verse in Matthew is when the disciples were freaking out about the huge crowd & lack of resources to feed them. You know the story. They tried to get Jesus to send the people away, but He turns the tables on them & tells them to feed the people. Of course, the disciples protest & list all the reasons why they can't do it. After all, they've only got 5 little biscuits & a couple of fish. Jesus' response: "Bring them here to me." The truth is that all you have is all He needs to do something incredible, maybe even miraculous. We don't have to have all that it takes to meet a need or fulfill God's call. All we need is the faith to bring what we do have to our Savior & allow Him to bless it & do something unforgettable. So get out there, close the gap, get involved, & find your place in God's work in this world.

Close The Gap

There is a gap in many churches that for many leaders seems impossible to close, yet if we can figure out how to close the gap in our particular congregations, our ability to influence & impact our homes, communities, & the world dramatically improves. That seeming insurmountable gap is the gap between simply attending the local church & serving the local church. For too long too many of us have simply sat in a pew or a chair & filled our space each week. The cost of simply attending & not serving & investing our lives in ministry is too great for us to ignore.

1) The gap between attending & serving the local church is the same gap
    that keeps people from experiencing the power of God in their lives.

2) The gap between attending & serving the local church is the same gap
    that keeps congregations in a coma instead of becoming fully alive.

3) The gap between attending & serving the local church is the same gap
    that keeps cities from seeing the power of the Gospel.

What if each of us who say we follow Jesus refused to simply sit in church & decided to invest our lives in the church? What if we all began to find a place to serve? What if we found people to serve, people to invest ourselves in? Do you think that we would see God do a fresh work in our own souls? Do you think our congregations would be energized through the faithful ministry of its people? Do you really think that our cities wouldn't be affected by a congregation of God's people who are no longer on the sidelines but are boldly serving & sowing the seeds of the Gospel everywhere they go?

It's time to close the gap. If you're sitting & soaking, you're probably also spoiling. Where can you invest your life & in whom can you invest your life for God's glory? If the gap is going to close, it has to start somewhere. Why not with you?

Be Aggressive

This week at ZBC we wrapped up our summer message series in Nehemiah. If you like happy endings, Nehemiah 13 is not for you. After 12 chapters victory, revival, & renewal, we fast forward several years into the future to find that Nehemiah has had to return to Persia to serve the king before making a return visit to Jerusalem. What he finds is depressing to say the least. The people have descended back into the same lifestyle that had cost them in the past. The same temptations had brought them down again. The same things they had identified as chronic problem areas in Nehemiah 10 had reared their heads again, & the people had succumbed to the temptation. In Nehemiah's own words he was "greatly displeased." His confrontation of both the leaders & the people of Jerusalem seems overly harsh to some people, but there is something we have to remember: Nehemiah had invested years of his life into leading these people to honor God.

His frustration was directly connected to his sense of responsibility for these people. He knew what God could do in & through them when they submitted themselves to God's will, but He also knew what would happen if the people chose to rebel against God & pursue their own ways. There was a lot at stake. Most importantly, God's glory revealed & reflected through His people was at stake. Nehemiah took on the leaders in really aggressive ways. When the people violated the Sabbath by continuing to conduct business, he put the city on lock-down. When Nehemiah found out that his old enemy Tobiah had been given a place to live INSIDE of the Temple, he literally threw Tobiah & all of his things out. After years of leadership, instructions, & correction, the time for a soft warning had passed.

"Aggressive Temptation Requires Aggressive Accountability."

These chronic problem areas had been handled too softly for too long, & while getting physical like Nehemiah did probably isn't the best way to confront someone you care about, we should have the same sense of urgency & responsibility for one another. After all, how many of us have watched people we care about begin to drift away from God, but we hid behind phrases like "Who am I to judge?" The truth is that if the two of you are followers of Jesus, you are brothers or sisters in Christ & have a responsibility to protect one another from the dangers of sin & temptation. Our enemy is relentless & aggressive. Should we be just as relentless & aggressive in guarding one another & seeking to rescue or restore one another from his attacks?

Who do you need to reach out to in love in order to guide them back from a path that will lead to their own self-destruction? Be proactive, be aggressive, don't assume that they'll figure it out or learn their lesson. Rescue them. Perhaps you need to invite this kind of accountability into your life. Perhaps you are stuck in a cycle of defeat by the same temptations that take you down all the time. Who can you invite into your life as a sort of spiritual bodyguard? Do we really care about one another enough to confront one another in love in hopes of rescuing one another from the relentless, aggressive attacks of our enemy?

Looking Back So We Can Move Forward

The past is a tricky thing. We all look back fondly at "the good ole days" & think about the good times in our past, but at the same time, we're also prone to get stuck in the past. Looking back & celebrating the good times is great, but when you get to the point that you try to recreate or live in the past, you have a problem. On the other hand, if you have some past hurt in your past that you can't seem to move on from, that past hurt will impact almost everything about your future. The past is a great place to go back to & visit in our memory to celebrate the good time, to mourn the bad times, & to learn from it all, but living there or trying to export the past into our present is dangerous.

In Nehemiah 12, Nehemiah & the people are about to dedicate the newly reconstructed wall around Jerusalem. If you've ever been to a dedication, ribbon cutting, or grand opening ceremony, you know those events are extremely future oriented. It's all about the excitement of what the future holds for a new facility, organization, or business. However, Nehemiah begins this section of his memoirs by looking back. He looks at a couple of generations from the past. One generation led the initial return from exile back to the Promised Land. They resettled the land & rebuilt the Temple. They were bold, courageous, & faithful. Then Nehemiah looks at the next the generation, the one that immediately preceded his. This group of people weren't necessarily bad or evil people. They were just negligent. Their lack of faith stands in stark contrast to the generation preceding them who rebuilt the Temple & the generation that followed them who rebuilt the wall. It's not that they did anything overtly bad; they just did nothing. Perhaps they were content with the fact that the Temple had been rebuilt. Perhaps no one was ever bold enough to say, "Let's rebuild this wall & city." No matter what was going on, it's clear this was a part of Israel's past that needed to be learned from but not celebrated. Nehemiah then turns his attention to his generation & those who would come after him. Those generations had already demonstrated their faith, but there was so much potential for the future too. As they looked forward to the future, they needed to look back: to celebrate & to learn.

There's something really important we can learn from this passage that can be so important for us in our faith, our families, our ministries, & our communities.

"Learning From The Past Can Direct Our Future,

  But Living In The Past Can Destroy Our Future."

Our past is going to play a part in our future. We can't escape our past, but we don't have to be imprisoned by it. We get imprisoned by the past when we either choose to live there because those were "the good ole days," & there's no way God could have anything else in store for us or when we choose to live in the past & be defined by some of its hurts & defeats. The truth is that if you're a follower of Christ, you should assume your best days are ahead of you. God is still at work. Your past is filled with things that you can celebrate & things you can learn from, but God is leading you to take those things & follow Him with bold faith into the future.

What things in your past are you holding onto that are actually holding you back? They may be past victories or past defeats, but either way, their in the past. What can you learn from your past so that you can follow God faithfully into the future.

Confession That Transforms

Confession is a tough word. It's tripping with negativity. After all, just about every time we hear the word confession it's in connection with some guilty criminal or a child caught in an act of disobedience sheepishly saying, "I'm sorry," complete with protruding bottom lip. We've been conditioned to see confession as a negative thing, something that is always connected with guilt & shame.

However, if you take a look at Nehemiah 9 & 10, you see the other side of confession that gives us a more complete view & a more hopeful view of what confession is all about. After all confession really means "to tell the truth." It doesn't necessarily have to be negative or guilt ridden. It's just the truth. In fact, real repentance & confession actually is the way out of the guilt & shame that seems to hold us captive. The key is total confession. In Nehemiah 9 the people of God are moved to confess together. In fact, we learn that they spent hours in confession & worship. The interesting thing is that their confession doesn't start with them; it starts with God. Before they declare what is true about themselves, they declare what is true about God. He is powerful, majestic, holy, just, but also abounding in love & slow to anger. He is holy & just & simultaneously gracious & merciful.

It's these important truths about God's character & nature that moves them to also tell the truth about themselves. They are not holy. In fact, they are incredibly rebellious. God established a covenant of love with them, & He has always acted faithfully toward them, yet all the while they have been rebellious toward Him. But instead of being locked up in their guilt & shame, they are moved to not only confess their unfaithfulness to God, they are also moved to begin to change. In fact, in Chapter 10 they renew their commitment to the covenant God established with them by identifying 3 areas where they had consistently been unfaithful. By walking in faith to God they can be changed, transformed. I believe there's an important principle that we often overlook in our relationship with God.

"Confession That Starts With What's True About God

  Has The Power To Transform What's True About Us."

These people were moved not simply by their guilt. They were moved by God's faithfulness to them in spite of their guilt. Understanding that God is not just a holy & just God but also a compassionate & gracious God moves them to acknowledge the truth about themselves & be set free from that guilt & shame. Perhaps we need to spend more time reflecting on the character & nature of God than we do on our own shortcomings. Believe me, if you really spend some time in sincere reflection on God's character, you'll recognize yours too! You'll see the gap between God's holiness & your sin, His faithfulness & your unfaithfulness. However, you'll also be moved to run toward Him, not away from Him because you also know that He is slow to anger & abounding in love. That truth will move you to confess so that you can find freedom from your guilt & shame, & as you experience His faithfulness, you'll want to grow, to change, to be transformed.

Surrender Means Submission

As we have continued through Nehemiah in our current teaching series at Zebulon, we have come to Chapter 8. Chapter 8 is a huge turning point in the story of what God was doing through Nehemiah in the lives of the people in Jerusalem. As the chapter opens, there's a big assembly of the people in the shadow of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. As the people gathered the presence of the Temple would have been unavoidable. Then the priest & scribe Ezra climbs up on a platform & unrolls the scrolls of the Law & reads...& reads...& reads. Six hours into this, Nehemiah & the other leaders have to calm the people down because as Ezra has read God's Word, the people have been deeply convicted of their sin & lack of faith because their history had been one of great spiritual victory followed by massive failure. That cycle spanned hundreds of years & dozens of generations. Does that feel kind of familiar? However, Nehemiah's message isn't one that focuses on the people's sins. Instead, Nehemiah encourages the people to celebrate because of God's faithfulness. They send the people home with instructions to celebrate & throw a party in their homes in response to God's goodness & faithfulness to His people.

The next day something else amazing happens. The men come back. After 6 hours of Bible study, the men come back for more, & as they continue to listen to God's Word, they learn that there is a festival  to be celebrated that they knew nothing about, & it was supposed to be celebrated that very month! What happens next demonstrates that these people were really in the process of being changed & transformed. They discovered that their lives were not in alignment with God's Word, so they went out & did something about it. They brought their lives, their families, their society into alignment with God's will in God's word. They celebrated that festival like it hadn't been celebrated in generations. Israel's history had been a story of taking a step forward spiritually only to take two back. If these people wanted to break that cycle, they knew they had to be different, so they made sure their lives were surrendered to God, even if it seemed strange, even if it was inconvenient. There's a powerful spiritual truth on display in the lives of those Israelites in Nehemiah 8.

"Surrender To God Is Reflected In Submission To God's Word."

Christians often talk about being fully surrendered to God. One of our classic hymns is called "I Surrender All." However, what we say & what we sing is often very far from where we live. So how can we know if we're surrendered? How can we recognize whether or not we're really surrendering our lives to our Heavenly Father? The answer is found in this question: When was the last time God's Word changed your mind, your behavior, & your life? If you can't point to a time where your will came into conflict with God's will revealed in His Word, there's a good chance you're not spending much time in God's word. If you've encountered those places but you haven't changed your mind & behavior to submit to God's will in His Word, then you aren't surrendered to your Heavenly Father. You're still a slave to your will & your desires. Instead of talking about surrender, let's all begin to take a look at whether or not we're really submitted to God's Word. 

Where are you out of alignment? Are you so far out of alignment that you're not even reading God's Word, much less submitting to it? How can you start bringing your life & your family into alignment with God's Word? The longer you stay out of alignment, the further you will drift off the path that God would have you follow.