Book Review: Sing!

I recently had the opportunity to get a review copy of Keith & Kristyn Getty's "Sing: How Worship Transforms Your Life, Family, & Church" from B&H Publishing. In just a few short pages the Getty's remind us of the transforming power of worship, especially through singing. At the heart of the book is the premise that the Gospel of Jesus compels us to worship, to sing. The Getty's go on to lay out the biblical foundations for worship through singing. Not only does the Gospel message compel us to sing because of the work of Christ in us, but the word of God also commands us to sing. So God does command us to sing & give Him the glory He deserves, but then He graciously provides all the motivation we need in order to respond to Him in worship by working out our salvation through Jesus.

In the chapters that follow the Gettys build upon the biblical foundation to then illustrate how worship impacts our own hearts, our families, & our congregations. Worship fuels our faith relationship with God. We pass that love for God on to our children & grandchildren through the songs of God's holiness, goodness, & grace. They also point out that our congregations' singing need to be fueled by a fresh vision of Jesus & His Gospel. Then as we respond with songs of joy & worship, we'll encourage one another, but we'll also serve as witnesses to the world that we're called to share this Good News with.

Overall, this is a great, short read. I would recommend it not just to church leaders but to any believer who feels like they're stuck in their faith. If you're having trouble finding your song on Sunday or if you want to be equipped to pass on the story of God's love to your kids, pick this book up.

The Bowman Family Is On The Move

Some of those closest to us already know, but we have some exciting news. 

The Bowman family will be moving back to our hometown of Jackson, TN! God has opened a door for us to return to Jackson for me to serve as the Senior Pastor at Poplar Heights Baptist Church. When Valerie & I moved away from Jackson 12 years ago, we had been married a little over a year & had no kids. Now we return with two little girls & a lot of memories & friends made along the way. I know there were times when Valerie thought we'd never make it back to Tennessee, but in His timing God has answered prayer. 

Be in prayer for our family as we go through everything necessary in order to make a 500 mile move. Julia & Audrey are already having to adjust. They don't quite know what to think of the fact that seemingly everyone in Jackson either knows our families or is our family! Also be in prayer for both churches involved in this transition as each will be dealing with big changes over the next few weeks.

We're excited about what's ahead, making new friends, & reconnecting with old friends. Plus, there will now always be a Los Portales within a short drive of wherever I am. Those of you from Jackson know what I'm talking about. 

Kingdom Minded Moms & Dads

We wrapped up our Family Matters message series over the last two weeks with messages focused on parenting. We began with a message for moms & looked at 1st Samuel 1. This chapter of God's redemption story begins with a woman who desperately wanted to become a mother. However, her desire for a child wasn't just about satisfying her maternal instincts. Her desire was that God would use that little life to glorify His name & further His Kingdom. In fact, in Hannah's prayer in 1st Samuel 1, we see that before she is even pregnant, she sets aside her son for God. She knows that being given a child is a gift from God, but she also understood something profound about motherhood:

"The Greatest Gift A Mother Can Give Her Child 

Is To Give Her Child To God."

Hannah surrendered her plans & hopes for her child to God's plans. She knew that, above all else, being used by God & serving His Kingdom should be her desire for her son. Sometimes as parents we let our protective instincts go off the tracks, & if we're not careful, we end up protecting our kids from God Himself. As a result, we inadvertently rob them of the only thing that matters in life. May we all pursue Hannah's example of surrender.

This past weekend we focused our message toward dads by looking at a season of King David's life that was a total train wreck. In 2nd Samuel 11 David has his scandalous fall with Bathsheba. The chapters that follow tell a tale of chaos & calamity in David's family. And it all started with David losing the battle in his heart. David should have been on the battlefield, but instead he was on the roof. The fallout from David's sin landed squarely on his family. In the end he loses three sons, & one of his daughter's has her life destroyed when her half-brother rapes her. All the while, David did nothing as his family fell apart. He had lost his moral authority & credibility on that rooftop. David's life can teach us something important as fathers:

"Our Biggest Battles Will Always Be In Our Heart & Our Home."

David probably though his slip up with Bathsheba was no big deal until it spiraled out of control...the way sin always does. The truth is that the battles we often think are big are insignificant, & the battles we think are insignificant are actually the big ones. Too many men are on the rooftop rather than on the battlefield. They're being distracted by the things of the world, & like David they're eyes are lingering a little too long. It's time for fathers to focus their attention on the battlefield for the sake of their families, for the sake of the next generation, but most importantly for the sake of the Gospel.

Your Plans Aren't Great Enough

In our current series, "Family Matters", we're heading into the last few messages that focus on parenting. To kick that group of messages off, we looked at the fact that pretty much every parent has hopes, dreams, & plans for their kids, & there's nothing wrong with that. 

However, if we're not careful we'll dream dreams & make plans without including God in the process. As a result, we're in danger of not setting the bar of expectation too high for our kids, but of setting the wrong bar for them altogether. The worst thing we can do for our kids is to teach them to be successful without teaching them to be faithful.

In 1st Samuel 16 we find God sending his prophet Samuel out on a mission to anoint the next king of Israel. Those of us who've spent a few weeks in Sunday School know this is going to be David, yet when Samuel gets to Jesse's house & begins to meet the family, none of the sons are God's man. So Samuel had to ask what had to feel like a weird question, "Do you have any other sons?" Jesse's response tells us a lot about the expectations that Jesse & that ancient culture had placed on David. Jesse's response was pretty much, "Oh yeah, I've got another son, but he's the youngest, & he's just a shepherd." Basically, everyone in David's family & in culture in general would have assumed that David wasn't worth inviting to the party. It turns out, however, that David was the guest of honor for the party. Everybody had plans for David: his dad, his brothers, his culture, but God had plans as well. As parents, we should take note of that. Even though culture had predetermined David's future, God had another plan.

"God's Plans May Not Match Your Plans

    But Are Always Greater Than Your Plans."

Do your plans, hopes, & dreams for your children take God's plans into account? Are your plans broad enough & great enough to include what God might want to do in & through the life of your child? We must teach children that being successful starts with being faithful. Otherwise, they'll pursue being successful at the expense of being faithful. It was that faithful heart of David that God wanted to do great things through. Cultivate that same kind of heart in your kids, & God's plans will dwarf even your greatest hopes & dreams for your child because He will take whatever they do & use it for eternal, kingdom significance.

Brokenness From Brokenness

This past Sunday our "Family Matters" series continued the discussion on New Testament marriage by focusing on the difficult issue of divorce & remarriage. It's a topic we don't like to talk about because it hits so close to home. All of us have been impacted by it in some way to the point that it's sadly become almost normal. Even in the church, we've adopted cultural views of marriage, divorce, & remarriage that when we take an honest look at Scripture, are in direct conflict with God's Word.

Jesus directly addressed the issue of divorce & remarriage multiple times throughout the Gospel. His message was consistently clear. His message was that the disposable view of marriage that His culture & our culture hold is in defiance of God's design. Our sinful approach to marriage doesn't negate God's design. In fact, Jesus says repeatedly that divorce was permitted, not approved. Divorce became a reality because our heart are hardened toward one another & toward God. Our broken marriages are the result of our broken hearts. Even when the New Testament discusses the grounds on which divorce is permitted, we find that divorce should be the last resort. As Gospel people, reconciliation should always be our goal. That's why in multiple places throughout the New Testament, divorced couples are instructed not to remarry but to stay single or pursue reconciliation. After all, divorces that are on unbiblical grounds only create sin on top of sin as we enter into adulterous remarriages. Based on the New Testaments warnings & instruction on this issue, there is one thing we have to recognize:

"Protecting Your Heart Protects Your Marriage."

If you're single, protect your heart now so that you know how to protect it later. If you're married, protect your heart against unforgiveness, pride, unrepentance, & selfishness. If you don't, they'll eat away at your marriage. If you're divorced & single, take God's word seriously. Was your divorce on biblical grounds of sexual immorality or abandonment by an unbelieving spouse? If not, acknowledge that your divorce was outside the New Testament parameters. Divorce is not an unforgivable sin, but we do need to call it what it is & seek forgiveness. Even if your divorce was on biblical grounds, did you pursue reconciliation? If not, confess your failure to reflect the Gospel, even in such a difficult situation. If you're divorced & remarried, was your remarriage biblical? If not, confess it, find forgiveness at the cross, & then seek to model an Ephesians 5, Gospel marriage. 

We must take God's word seriously. We must spend time in it & asking God to reveal its implications for us & our situations. If not, we are doomed to embrace the cultural view that marriage is for us & about us, & therefore no matter your situation, you have every right to marry, divorce, & remarry as many times as you want until you find that elusive thing: happiness. Instead, let's pursue holiness by protecting our hearts & as a result, protecting our lives & our marriages.

The Friday Five

Enjoy this week's Friday Five.

1. Music: The Civil Wars: Live At Eddie's Attic. This was my introduction to the far too short lived duo who made depressing acoustic music cool again. I had heard the single "Barton Hollow" on the radio & found my way to their website where at the time you could download this album for FREE. It's absolutely amazing. Some of the most played tracks on my entire iTunes library come from this album. The Civil Wars studio work is great, but they're live stuff is incredible. You have to have this one!
2. Quote: "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." Frederick Douglass
3. Article/Post: Playing The Long Game In A World Addicted To Instant. Jon Acuff shares both the frustration & the necessity of raising children who learn patience & perseverance in an on-demand world.
4. Follow: Jon Acuff. Speaking of Acuff, he's one of the best follows on any social media platform. I've got his Twitter account linked here for you, but if you're on Instagram, find him & follow him there too. He's insightful, but he's also one of the funniest people around.
   
5. TV: Luther. Idris Elba is finally becoming a big deal in the U.S. with rumors of his possibly becoming James Bond someday. In fact, you can go hear him voice Sheer Khan in the new live action Jungle Book film opening this week. However, those of us who love BBC's programming, we've know Elba for awhile. Luther is a classic cop show, & Elba's Luther is the classic "cop who plays by his own rules" character. It's fun, & the characters are well developed & complicated. There are rumors of a Luther movie or U.S. TV reboot, but we'll have to wait & see.

Is A Happy Marriage Enough?

This week in our current series "Family Matters" we looked at the issue of marriage. Marriage has been one of the biggest social topics in the last few years as we've seen the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on same sex marriage & begun to look at what that's going to mean for our culture & our churches.

While many people feel that June 2015 is when the church lost the marriage debate, I would argue that we lost the debate long before that when we began to exchange the New Testament, Gospel driven view of marriage for the cultural views & perspectives on the marriage relationship. For example, many Christians would be quick to praise a couple that is celebrating 50 years of marriage, but what if the goal of marriage isn't just to stay married? What if the goal in marriage is just managing to not kill each other or abandon each other? What if there's something far more significant? What if there is something deeply spiritual about marriage?

If you look at Ephesians 5:21-33 you'll find the answer to those questions. There is something more to marriage than just surviving it. There is something deeper than just managing to stay together. And there is something incredibly, profoundly spiritual about the marriage relationship. Paul says that when husband & wife submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, they're not only reflecting Christ's submission to His Father's will & our need, they're also growing in holiness. When the husband loves his wife as Christ loves the Church & when the wife submits to her husband as she would to Christ, they are illustrating what Paul called a "profound mystery." When husband & wife fulfill their roles, their marriage covenant becomes a reflection of Christ's love for the Church & the Church's devotion & submission to her Savior. They're relationship becomes a picture of the Gospel for a watching world that needs to not simply see healthy marriage, but needs to see Christ.

However, too many of us have exchanged the beauty described in Ephesians 5 for the world's cheap substitutes. We've managed to be content with simply having a "happy marriage," whatever that means. And by the way, it's usually defined by MY happiness, not the happiness of my spouse. What if in prioritizing & focusing on happy marriages we've missed out on what God really wants for us?

"Stop Focusing On A Happy Marriage & Start Pursuing A Holy Marriage."

You might be wondering if there's really a difference between happy & holy. My answer would be "Yes" & "No." In the short term there's a big difference. After all, the thing that I deeply feel & believe will make me happy right now might lead me away from holiness. On the other hand, if we take the long view, pursuing holiness will lead us to happiness & something even greater than happiness: joy. It's really a matter of what we prioritize. If our goal is happiness in our marriage, we'll find ourselves chasing mirages because happiness by the world's standards is so fleeting & fragile. If however we pursue holiness, husbands will sacrificially love their wives & wives will respectfully & lovingly support her husband, & as they do this, they'll grow in holiness & oneness in both the happy times & unhappy times in a way that reflects the oneness of Christ & His Church.

So stop focusing on a happy marriage, & start pursuing a holy marriage. It may seem counterintuitive, but that's the Gospel life: denying self in favor of Christ. If you'll pursue the path of holiness in your marriage, you won't have to worry about happiness.

To access the full teaching on this passage click visit our HERE. Then click the Family Matters graphic to launch the message player.

You WILL Leave A Legacy

This weekend in the second week of our series "Family Matters" we looked at leaving a legacy in our family. Legacy gets talked about a lot, but sometimes we fail to state what should be obvious: You & I will leave a legacy. The only question is what kind.

Let that sink in for a second. Everything you say & do is forming a legacy for your children, grandchildren, & great grandchildren. That's kind of scary isn't it? It's really scary when you start to realize how oblivious we are to that fact most of the time. After all, most of us leave a random legacy. It just sort of happens, & we hope that it's something good, glorifies God, & points our kids toward Jesus. What if, however, we were intentional about leaving a legacy in our families? What would it look like?

Take a look at Deuteronomy 6. In the first 20 verses or so Moses lays out the responsibility the families of this new nation would have to pass on the knowledge of God to their descendants. The goal of God's word was to make sure that the kids & grandkids would know & serve God. Then Moses lays out the teaching end of leaving a legacy & the living part of leaving a legacy. The word of God should be a priority in our homes. Our lives should be consistent with our words. We shouldn't just talk about God to our kids & grandkids; we should demonstrate to them what trusting God looks like & teach them to trust Him too. Finally, in verse 20 Moses says that one day our kids are going to ask us why we do what we do, why the Bible is such priority in our homes, & why we're different from other people. Our answer, Moses said, should be rooted in God's saving, redemptive work.

"Leaving A Godly Legacy Is Rooted In God's Redemptive Work

And Passed On Through God's Revealed Word."

So what are some practical ways to put this passage & this principle into practice?

1. Impress God's Word On Your Heart First. (Deut. 6:6)
2. Impress God's Word On Your Kid's/Grandkids' Heart. (Deut. 6:7)
3. Teach Them The Word Through The Lens Of The Gospel. (Deut. 6:20)
4. Make Sure Your Training (Actions) Matches Your Teaching (Words). (Deut. 6:6-12)

This may seem overwhelming, but it's really this simple: Do something. You don't have to be a scholar. You don't have to be a gifted teacher. The power is in God's word. Just put it in front of your family. Let Jesus be the star of His word. Then lead the way in putting His word into practice in your life. You don't need an elaborate plan. You just need a plan. Stick to it as best you can, but don't beat yourself up if you drop the ball every now & then. Remember the goal isn't just to teach your kids or grandkids the Bible. Your goal is to introduce them to Jesus.

Book Review: The One

Imagine getting engaged & married in the same day. Sound crazy, maybe even a little foolish? Well, that's the story that allows Ryan & Amanda Leak to share the rest of their story. Ryan & Amanda share both their story & the lessons they've learned in the often confusing world of relationships & dating in their book The One: An Amazing Love Story Starts With You. The basic premise of the book is that if you're looking for someone to "complete you" or if you're on the brink of just settling for whatever is available, you need to step back, read this story, & be inspired to look at relationships from a different perspective. 

Ryan & Amanda are both believers & followers of Jesus, but they're like a lot of us: they have some baggage in their past when it comes to relationships. Throughout The One you get to hear some of their backstories & how they got to the place of getting engaged & having full blown wedding all in one day, & get this men, Ryan planned the whole thing & surprised Amanda with it. That's right, he took care of the dress, the flowers, the cake, & the invitations. As their story unfolds, Ryan & Amanda share the important spiritual truths not just about dating or marriage, but about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus who loves God & loves others. They share how they learned it was more important to become "the one" rather than spending all their time trying to find "the one."

Perhaps the most important contribution from this book is how it frames being single. The church hasn't done the best job at handling single people or speaking to this season of life. In fact, we've at times been guilty of making singleness more awkward than it needs to be, & at times we've even painted the picture that being a single adult must mean there is something wrong with you, that somehow being married makes you whole. The only problem with that is that it's only Jesus that makes us whole. Not only that but there are many faith heroes that were single as well. Ryan & Amanda do a good job of addressing this season of life in a way that points a person to a greater relationship with Christ in order to prepare themselves for what Christ wants to do now & in the next season.

Overall, this is a solid book with an entertaining, unique story built on solid biblical truth. This could be a good resource for pastors preparing messages on relationships or for high school, college, or young adult small groups. If you want more info on The One or Ryan & Amanda Leak, visit these links to learn more.

The One: An Amazing Love Story Starts With You
Ryan & Amanda Leak's Website

Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Behind Enemy Lines

In American church culture we have a doctrine that many of us hold on to. In some churches it's an unspoken doctrine, but in some it's actually a core doctrine that is lifted up as the ideal. There are different ways to state it, but it's basically this: "The safest place in the world is in the middle of God's will." In some contexts that means that if you follow God faithfully, He will bless you with all sorts of stuff because God's primary concern is making you happy. In other contexts we don't state it that way but we basically peddle a version of Christianity that makes Jesus into a cure all & will fix all your problems as long as you follow Him.

There's a lot of problems with this philosophy, but here's the biggest: it has no basis in God's Word. I'm sure the person who coined that phrase had good intentions & was probably speaking in very spiritual terms. Yes, ultimately if you're in the middle of God's will, you are safe because He will be with you & He will see you through whatever comes at you, but that's not how it's usually packaged or received. So what does Scripture tell us about being in God's will? Scripture tells us the exact opposite. Scripture reminds us over & over again that being in God's will invites opposition & can be downright dangerous. Need I run the list? Job, Joseph, Elijah, Nehemiah, David, Jesus, Peter, James, Paul, & on & on it goes. These were all men who were seeking to live a life submitted to God's will & it was anything but safe. At one point or another, every one of these guys had a reason to fear for his life. Some of them actually paid for their faithfulness with their lives. So yes, while God will be with you through the struggle & through the suffering, being in God's will is anything but safe.

"What If Being In The Middle Of God's Will
Is The Most Dangerous Place You Could Be?"

Here's why being in the middle of God's will is a dangerous place to be: we live in the middle of enemy territory. Let's face it we live every moment of our lives in a world where Satan & sin get to run pretty wild. Paul even describes Satan as the prince of this world. We don't live in a world or culture that shares our desire to honor Christ & do God's will. In fact, we live in a world that is pretty much completely opposed to Christ & His will. So why do we think being in God's will is going to be safe? If you buy into this deception that God's will is safe, you will be tempted to judge both your faithfulness & God's faithfulness solely on your circumstances & feelings, both of which are temporary. Instead we need to judge our faithfulness by what God's word says about God's people, & we need to base our view on who God is on what God has revealed to us in His word. If you think being in God's will is safe, you'll doubt God's goodness & faithfulness when hard times come, & you'll miss the blessing of knowing that God is walking with you through the hard times.

Now here's where it gets tricky. Do we really want to pursue God's will? Do we really want to live so radically devoted to Christ that it might cost us something? Do we really want to be so ridiculously faithful to Jesus that it might get us in trouble? Or do we want a faith that simply sneaks us into Heaven through the backdoor but doesn't attract any negative attention from the enemy in this world? That may be our real issue. Do we really want to be in the middle of God's will? After all, that could get complicated, that might cost us something, that might even get a little dangerous. Here's one final word for Christians. Non-Christians are not our enemy. No, instead we have a common enemy. Satan is the enemy. Sin is the enemy. Non-Christians are still simply enslaved to the same thing that once held us. Therefore, we don't attack non-Christians; we invite them to reject sin & embrace The Gospel, to embrace Jesus. We attack the enemy, & we attack the enemy with the truth about him, the truth about sin, & the love, grace, & hope of the Gospel.

It's time for the Church to rise up & recognize we live on a battleground. It's time for the church to recognize we have an enemy, & we have people we're called to rescue with the message of the Gospel. But to do that we have to embrace God's will in our lives, no matter the cost. After all, when we consider the price that Jesus paid to show His faithfulness to us, no price is too high so that we might show our faithfulness to Him.

That's Not Fair!

One of the greatest tensions in leadership is the desire to be fair. The concept of fairness is pervasive in our culture. When that cultural norm bumps into our role as a leader, there is inevitable tension. Leaders have decisions to make that will affect people, & those people demand that the leader lead in a way that is fair, & the leader himself feels the pull toward fairness in his own leadership. However, another truth is pulling at the leader as well: that fairness & leadership aren't always compatible. 

"Fairness Is Usually Determined By Our Present Desires, 

But Leadership Demands We See The Long-Term Destination."

Absolute fairness in leadership is a myth. It doesn't exist & never has. God Himself doesn't even treat us fairly. After all, if God were fair & gave us what we deserved, it would be really ugly. Even if you just brought it down to the level of fairness that we usually operate on which is all about what we think we need right now, God wouldn't dare treat us "fairly". If He gave us what we wanted now, it's likely that it would ultimately destroy us. Instead God does what all good leaders do: He keeps the big picture, the long-term destination in view. 

As a leader, you have the responsibility of leading people into a future that they won't always see or understand. In the midst of that, you'll probably hear, "That's not fair," but don't be distracted by the world's mantra. Fix your eyes on the finish line, on the destination that you have been called to lead others to. Don't try to be absolutely fair; it's impossible. In fact, it can actually become an enemy to your organization, ministry, or family.

Orange 2015 Reflections

Last week I was able to take a couple of our key volunteer ministry leaders with me to attend The Orange Conference in Atlanta. If you're unfamiliar with Orange, you need to check them out at thinkorange.com. I wanted to share with you just a little from 3 days of incredible content presented by Reggie Joiner & the incredible team of leaders he assembled for this event. Here are a few quotes & some of my takeaways from the event.

-This year's theme was "It's Just A Phase...So Don't Miss It." Too often we're focused on what is to come that we miss out on what's right now, especially when it comes to kids. Slow down recognize & appreciate the opportunities that you have right now to impact a young man or woman's life.

-"You can fast forward childhood but you can't rewind it." Jon Acuff

-Remembering that every child is made in the image of God changes everything. It reminds us of the potential that's locked up in every kid & that we get to play a part in helping them discover who they could be in Christ so that in Christ all that potential is unleashed.

-"Kids are receiving mixed messages about sexuality." Jim Burns

-If we as parents & leaders don't engage kids on the issue of sex & sexuality (in a constructive, age appropriate way), culture will & by the time we think they're "ready" to talk about it, they've already formed their worldview on the topic.

-"When Nehemiah's heart was broken, he paid attention to his broken heart...So what breaks your heart?" Andy Stanley

-"Years from now what do you want people to line up to thank you for?" Andy Stanley

-"We're having to have answer questions previous generation haven't had to answer." Joshua Gagnon

-"Senior Pastors, elevate your leaders, & when they succeed, elevate them more." Brad Lomenick

-Jenni Catron is one of the smartest people I've ever heard speak. She never fails to make you think. Incredible role model for young ladies going into ministry to look to.

-"God hasn't blessed your church with success. He's blessed your church with potential." Jeff Henderson

-"Say 'yes' to your community." Jeff Henderson

-"Pastors, you need to be the voice of the people who don't come to your church but who should." Jeff Henderson

-"All 100 sheep are valuable, but there's a priority on the 1 sheep that is lost." Jud Wilhite

-"My music+my preferences+my style of service=Our church's funeral" Perry Noble

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I loaded Evernote down with notes from main sessions & breakouts. If you & your ministry team are looking for a conference that has something for everyone, Orange may be the right fit for you. For too long our ministries have been disjointed islands. Embracing an Orange strategy will help bring your ministries into alignment with one another so that they build on one another & better disciple our children so that they are prepared to face the world as an adult & as the future leaders of God's church.

The Gospel & Your Family

Family is a hot topic issue right now. What is a family? What constitutes a family? Who has the right to get married & start a family? All these questions are currently being debated, & many people are sounding the alarm that the "family is under attack." To me the alarm is a little late. Families have always been under pressure. Take a look at Genesis 3 & the account of how sin entered into the world. The enemy's very first tactic for leading humanity into temptation & sin involved a family. It was the classic divide & conquer approach, & once sin had entered the world, God reveals that a primary consequence was going to be strife & conflict in the family, between husband & wife. So the pressures on family aren't new. The current issues may be new, but the tactic is literally as old as dirt. 

The new wrinkle that many of us have to struggle with is that some people evidently have ideal, perfect families. After all, look at their Facebook or Instagram feed. They're always smiling. Their children are so talented, smart, & well behaved. It's as if everything in their world is just right. Here's the problem though: they're only showing you what they're OK with you seeing. The perfect family is a mirage, & social media has helped perpetuate it. So we go to the local book store or jump on Amazon & comb through the bottomless pile of self-help & how to books, both spiritual & secular, to help us figure out how to make our families stronger, yet we end up feeling frustrated. The problem isn't so much that we're looking for a solution, but that we're looking for a solution from the wrong source. You can't build a stronger marriage or family by mastering 12 steps or becoming a better you. You become a better spouse, parent, child, or sibling by going back to the transforming power of the Gospel.

"You Don't Build A Stronger Family By Being A Better Spouse Or Parent.

You Do It By Becoming More Like Jesus."

If you're working hard to become a better you, there's a pretty good chance you'll only make things worse because you're still about you. Thankfully, Jesus came to redeem you & transform you to become more like Him. The Gospel isn't just the means by which you & I are saved. The Gospel is the means by which are lives are transformed so that we experience life to the fullest, the way God desires us to. What do I mean by all this? It's simple: Husbands, you don't become a better husband by just unloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, not yelling so much, or bringing home a bigger paycheck. You become a better husband by becoming more like Christ as you sacrificially love your wife & children the way Christ sacrificially loved us. Wives, you don't become a better wife by always agreeing with your husband, doing all the housework, or any other stereotype that you can think of. You become a better wife by becoming more like Christ who was submitted to the will of His Father & to the desperate need of humanity for a Savior. Parents, you don't become better parents just by being super strict, & it definitely doesn't happen by being your child's BFF. You become better parents by becoming more like Christ who loves us, even in our sin, but who also comes alongside us & teaches us what obedience & faithfulness looks like. 

Ephesians 5 & 6 are loaded with incredible pictures of how the Gospel shapes & transforms us as families. Men, you can't love your wives as Christ loved the church in your own strength. Ladies, you cannot submit to your husbands as you do to the Lord in your own strength. Kids cannot obey their parents in their own strength. Parents in their own strength will not train their children up in the ways of the Lord. None of this happens in our own strength because our strength is tainted & twisted by sin. However, when we find new life in Christ that's not just about eternity. It's about right now too. When we keep our hearts & minds focused on & rooted in the Gospel, we'll be constantly reminded of the lavish grace & love poured out on us, & that can't help but move us toward real life transformation.

Stop trying to be a better you, & start pursuing Jesus. Root yourself in the Gospel. Live from the power of the Gospel, & as you become more like Christ, you'll see your family become healthier, stronger, & more glorifying to God.

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?

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?

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?

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.

Vision Invites Opposition

We talk a lot in church & leadership circles about discovering God's vision & pursuing it. However, we don't talk as much about what to do when opposition to that vision comes. It's totally understandable. After all, if people haven't been gripped by God's vision for their lives, reminding them that doing so invites resistance & opposition may very well insure they never embrace God's plan. However, failing to share this important truth & how to deal with it is just as crippling because if someone is energized by a vision from God for his life & then encounters heavy opposition to pursuing that vision, there's a pretty good chance the discouragement that comes with that will knock him off course, possibly to the point of never seeing what could have been become reality.

Vision invites opposition. It always does. Vision challenges the status quo, & there are always defenders of the status quo. That's where the "we've never done it that way before" crowd comes from, & that mindset is not just alive & well in church. They are in every area of your life. When parents decide to really begin to lead their children in a more godly way, you can bet their kids will push back because "we've never done that before". That same mindset exists at your job, in your family, in your friends, & to a degree in your own heart. You better believe that if you decide to get behind God's vision, you will face opposition. That's not up for debate, so what do you do when the opposition come?

Nehemiah 4 & 6 sheds some light on how to handle all kinds of opposition. Nehemiah & the people encountered constant opposition during their 52 day building project. Their enemies loved to try to intimidate them. They mocked them, ridiculed them, & spread rumors of a literal military attack on Jerusalem all in hopes of intimidating the people into simply walking off the job & giving up on the vision that God has called them to. They also tried to distract Nehemiah from his calling. On the surface, what they were asking Nehemiah to do didn't seem bad, but it would keep him from God's call. So how did Nehemiah lead the people to respond to this opposition. Nehemiah responded to the intimidation with prayer & preparation. When the intimidation began to take root in the hearts of the people, he redirected their attention away from the object of their fear to the object of their faith. He told them to "remember their God who is great & awesome." When faced with distractions that on the surface seemed to be good things, Nehemiah responded with focus on God's things. Over & over again, Nehemiah said, "I am doing a great work & cannot come down." Prayer, preparation, faith, & focus were key in responding to the opposition, & in every situation he reminded them of their God & the vision that God had given them to rebuild the wall & restore God's glory among the nations.

The next time your faced with resistance to pursuing God's vision whether it's intimidation by those who don't want to see change or whether it's simply a distraction that will dilute your focus respond by focusing on the vision because...

"Opposition To God's Vision Is An Opportunity

To Rally Around God's Vision."

Intimidation is usually nothing more than a scare tactic designed get you & I to quit before we ever start. The way to respond is to simply "remember our God" & remember what it is He's called us to do, & then we must move forward with that vision. When opportunities come our way the question isn't whether they are good or bad but whether or not they help us see God's vision become a reality. Always go back to who you're God is, who He's calling you to be, & what He's calling to do. Rally around that in the face of opposition & God will grant you the grace & faith to stand & advance toward God's call on your life.

We're Moving!

After 4 great years leading students & being a part of the broader ministry at FBC Robertsdale, God has called us to make a huge transition for our family & ministry. On April 27th, we accepted a call to become Lead Pastor of Zebulon Baptist Church in Toccoa, GA. This is a big transition not just because of the physical transition that's involved but perhaps even more so because of the ministry transition. The transition from Student Pastor to Lead Pastor isn't a small one, & we'd appreciate your prayers.

I often joke with people that I've been in student ministry since I was one. God called me to ministry when I was 15. I began preaching & teaching when I was 16. I spoke at my first camps & DiscipleNow weekends when I was still in high school. I got my first real student ministry gig when I was in college. So in a lot of ways I never really left. Sure, my perspective changed a lot over the years. I shifted from student to leader, & my view of what student ministry is & how it fits into the local church shifted along the way. In fact, it was those shifts in perspective that have led me to where I am now. I've often taught this important spiritual principle to students & adults for years, & it applies to me as well.

"You Can't Go With God & Stay Where You Are."

When God called Abraham, He called Abraham to follow Him. When Jesus called His disciples, He called them to follow Him. Sometimes following God literally, physically means leaving where you are to go with Him, but it always means leaving where you are spiritually, which is often a place of comfort, complacency or apathy, to follow Him & trust Him to lead you where He wants you to go. 

The last 4 years in Robertsdale have been a great close to our student ministry season. We have been blessed to work with some of the most incredible students in the world. Sure, I'm a little biased, but I don't really think I'm exaggerating that much. I am confident that God is at work in them & is going to do far more than any of us  would dare to imagine. At the same time though I had great opportunities to be a part of the broader ministry of the church, & that helped prepare me for what God has in store for this new season of life & ministry. God is calling, & it's time to follow. For me & my family that doesn't just mean a transition in ministry, it also means a physical move. 

Right now in your life, what would following God require you to do? You can't go with God & stay where you are. How do you need to move?