Book Review: The 4 Wills Of God

I recently received a copy of "The 4 Wills Of God" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs from B&H Publishing to look over & give my review. Dr. Eggerichs is both a pastor & a conference speaker. He & his wife, Sarah, have developed the Love & Respect Conference focusing on teaching men & women how to pursue God-honoring, loving, healthy biblical relationships. Much of the insight that is shared in this book is built on the 30+ years of pastoring & counseling.

The basic premise of this book is that so often we want to know God's unique will for our lives without examining whether we're being faithful to God's universal will for us. Dr. Eggerichs rightly asserts that as we pursue faithfulness to the 4 universal wills, God's unique will become easier to discern in particular situations.

So what are the "4 Wills Of God" & where does Dr. Eggerichs find them?

1. Believe In Jesus Christ (John 6:40)
2. Give Thanks In Everything (1st Thessalonians 5:18)
3. Submit In Doing Right (1st Peter 2:13-15)
4. Abstain From Sexual Sin (1st Thessalonians 4:3)

These passages literally say something like, "This is God's will..." Therefore, there is some solid biblical foundation here that Eggerichs can build upon. He devotes a couple of chapters for each of the "4 Wills" using one chapter to lay the biblical foundation & another to flesh out practical application & tell stories to illustrate those points. For me, there were a few too many stories, but that's just me. Other readers will likely love the numerous stories that help illustrate the author's point. 

This could be a really good resource for counseling, small groups, or for individual growth as long as those using it don't reduce the "4 Wills" to some legalistic grid for morality & instead realize they are more of a road map to living the life that God desires for us of growth in Him & impact in our relationships.

Book Review: Becoming A Welcoming Church

I recently received a copy of Thom Rainer's new book: "Becoming A Welcoming Church". Dr. Rainer is the the President & CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. In recent years, he has a produced a series of short but powerful books focusing on specific issues of church membership, church decline, & church leadership. In this new book, Rainer focuses on years of research in the area of church guest experience & follow up with those guests. In just 100 pages, he is able to identify some specific issues in how congregations minister to their guests & how to move toward a more effective ministry to newcomers in our churches.

One overarching principle in this book that most churches & church members need to come to grips with is the fact that our churches are not as friendly & welcoming as we think we are. The research shows that guests perceive our churches as friendly...if you already are a part of that church. In short, church members are welcoming to one another, but when it comes to guests, we're not as warm & friendly as we think we are.

This general lack of self-awareness should move church members & leaders to reexamine this aspect of our congregations' ministry to insure that we are as effective in our ministry as possible when it comes to welcoming & caring for the guests who worship in our church this weekend. In order to equip congregations to look in the mirror, Rainer gives not only some ideas but also resources in his book to help our churches see themselves with fresh eyes. Those resources are available in the book & on Dr. Rainer's website. Church leaders would be wise to take advantage of them.

The meat of the book tackles the particular issues of websites, signage, security, cleanliness, & greeters. Rainer gives helpful insight into how to leverage these items in a way that connects with our guests & encourages an atmosphere of authentic, gospel hospitality. One issue that I found somewhat surprising is that research shows that guests feel the most uncomfortable in the minutes prior to the worship service begins. In many places they've been warmly greeted as they arrived, but then they find a seat & are practically ignored until someone stands up & tells everyone to greet each other. Then they're "warmly" greeted again. The problem is that it all comes off as artificial. It's not enough to have a good welcome team. The whole congregation has to see themselves as the welcome team.

The book closes with a great reminder that if we want to be welcoming churches we must be going churches. Our hospitality ministry should really function as an extension of our Great Commission ministry. We reach out to people in our everyday lives. We share the Gospel with them. We share how Christ has changed our lives. We invite them to join us for worship on Sunday. Then the hospitality ministry at our church takes on a greater urgency. It's not just about making sure people get a bulletin. It's about making sure that each person that is a guest in our church feels just as welcomed as they would in our homes or by our Savior.

I would encourage every church leader to pick up copies of this for the church staff, those who serve in their church's hospitality/greeting ministry, & for the congregation in general. The insights & principles in this book need to permeate the cultures of our local congregations so that we not only becoming more welcoming churches, but that we also become more faithful going churches.

Book Review: Designed To Lead

There's a new book out that EVERY church leader needs to read. Eric Geiger & Kevin Peck recently released Designed To Lead in the hopes of helping the local church fulfill the incredible potential it has for developing leaders. After all, no other group has a more urgent or permanent mission than the church, but let's face it most churches are not raising up leaders who impact the world for the sake of that incredible mission to make Jesus known.

In Designed To Lead we're reminded not only of the incredible mission we have as believers but also of the necessity to raise up leaders in order to further that mission not just in our church ministries but in our schools, homes, & businesses. The church should be developing & deploying gospel leaders who impact every facet of our world. Geiger & Peck do a great job of outlining what a church who consistently develops & deploys leaders looks like. The crux of the book revolves around the principles of Conviction, Culture, & Constructs. Without all three of these principles in place, a congregation will not develop & deploy leaders for God's glory in the church & in the community. At best leaders will arise accidentally, but the Church is called to be intentional in all that it does.

One final piece I'd like to highlight is for those who shrink back at the idea of the local church being a leadership development machine & feel that it sounds too much like business jargon. At the end of Designed To Lead there is an appendix that reminds us that Jesus' relationship with His disciples was built on Jesus' desire to develop them & deploy them for the advancing of the Gospel & for making disciples. Discipleship & leadership are inextricably linked. Jesus developed disciples/leaders who made more disciples/leaders who made it possible for people like us to hear the Gospel & be changed by it.

Designed To Lead is an essential tool for your church's or ministry's toolbox. Pastors, work through this book with your entire leadership team, both staff & volunteer. Work with your existing leaders to take the principles found in Designed To Lead in order to create a culture of gospel fueled leadership development in your church. Then work together to create a pipeline for identifying, developing, & deploying leaders in your church who will glorify Jesus, advance the Gospel, & make disciples in their homes, their communities, & their church.

Book Review: Exalting Jesus in 1st & 2nd Kings

As a pastor one of the things that I find most disturbing is how many people are so unfamiliar with their Bible. There are a lot of reasons for it, but one is that guys like me (pastors) haven't done a great job of teaching people how to read it. We fail to help people see how everything from Genesis to Revelation has one thing in common: Jesus. It's Jesus & His Gospel that's the lens through which we should read Scripture. Yes, a passage is to be interpreted in its immediate context, but we also have to keep in mind the broader purpose of Scripture: the revelation of God the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit. That means we need to keep the Gospel in mind even when we're not reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

B&H Publishing is currently producing The Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary Series. In this post I'll focus on Exalting Jesus in 1st & 2nd Kings. These aren't exactly the books we readily identify with Jesus. However, if nothing else the record of the kings of Israel & Judah show us the imperfection that will be replaced with perfection & the divided kingdom that will be replaced with the eternal kingdom when the prophet, priest, & king named Jesus of Nazareth shows up a few centuries later.

In this volume Tony Merida walks us through these two Old Testament books, helping the reader see how the Gospel is woven throughout Scripture & foreshadowed time & time again through the history of Israel. One of the strengths of this series of commentaries is that they don't really read like commentaries. In other words, they're not dry, boring, or academic. This book is the best kind of commentary: approachable & applicable. I would encourage anyone interested in serious Bible study to look into Exalting Jesus in 1st & 2nd Kings or any of the other available titles in this series.

Disclaimer: I received a promotional copy of this book from B&H Publishing for this review.

Feast or Famine?

“The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for want of His Presence.” -A.W. Tower

This weekend we continued our series "I Am" as one of our deacons shared a message from John 6 as Jesus says, "I am the bread of life..." As we examined the passage & its implications, I thought of this quote. The world is dying in its sin and too many have never heard the message of the Gospel from the Church. At the same time, too many congregations are dying and closing their doors because they've forgotten the message & ministry of the Gospel.

As Jesus invited people to come and feed on the Bread of Life. He not only promised that this Bread would give them life, real spiritual life, but He also showed Himself to be the sustainer of that life. He is the Source & the Sustainer. The Gospel is what bring us to life in Christ, & it's the Gospel that transforms us to live as Christ. But somehow too many of us have forgotten this. So our salvation becomes an event rather than a way of life. The Gospel becomes something that happened to us at a particular moment rather than the very life blood of our existent. And along the way, in a very slow, subtle, unintentional way, we forget the Gospel. As Jesus said in Revelation 2, we forget our first love. As we forget our first love, we also forget to do what we did at first, namely pursue Jesus & pursue the lost. So in the end we not only neglect the Gospel, we end up neglecting the Great Commission.

As a result, the world begins to starve for the knowledge of God because the vehicle for that message of God's loving, gracious pursuit of sinners has been starving for God's presence. When we stop walking in the Gospel, it won't be long before we stop sharing the Gospel. 

"Consistently & Faithfully Following Jesus Means 

Continually & Faithfully Feasting On Jesus."

How are we supposed to feed on Jesus? Let me share a couple of verses to guide us. John 1:17 says that "the Word became flesh & dwelt among us." The eternal, preexistent Word of God, the very Word of creation, the very Word of revelation, put on flesh & lived among us, & His name was Jesus. So again, how do we feed on Jesus? We feed on Jesus by feeding on the Word because He is the Word. Then what? Well, let's consider what Ezekiel 3:1 says. In this verse God commands His prophet to eat the word & then speak the word. Sound familiar? It should. As believers we consume the Bread of Life, Jesus. He gives us life & salvation. As we experience the work of Christ, we're moved to advance that Good News of life, hope, & salvation in Christ. We consume the Word, then we speak the Word so that Jesus is magnified & lives are saved. If we want the world to have knowledge of God & therefore live, we must feast on Christ & His word so that we're moved by the Gospel to advance the Gospel. 

So let me ask you, are you in a season of feast or famine? If you're feasting, is it leading to action? Are you eating the word & speaking the word? If you're in a season of famine, come back to the table. Jesus has invited you to come & dine so that you will never have to hunger or thirst again.

Get The Church Outside The Church

This past Sunday our church did something way out of the norm. We didn't "have church." Instead, we were the church. We intentionally shut down our typical Sunday schedule & programs in order to host a Memorial Day Weekend Block Party. We promoted it throughout our community. We encouraged & equipped our people to invite friends, neighbors, or co-workers through social media & old fashioned invitations. Our goal was to build bridges with our community & sow Gospel seeds in the hearts of our neighbors.

Needless to say, this was probably very uncomfortable for some of our members & attenders. After all, Sunday is when we go to church & worship. However, what we wanted to remind everyone of is the fact that on this Sunday we were going to worship through serving & evangelizing our community. If we say we want to be known for loving our community & being #ForToccoa, shouldn't that be reflected in our schedule, even our Sunday schedule?

This outreach event allowed us to connect with people who wouldn't come to a worship service at 10:45am. In fact, we were able to connect to one young man who literally would have never crossed our path were it not for this event. This young man recently took ownership of a local convenience store. As he drove by our property, he saw everything that was going on at the block party. He grabbed some donuts from his store & came by to drop them off for us as a nice gesture from a new business owner. However, as God would have it, he dropped by just as we were sharing the Gospel. He stayed & listened intently. He then responded to the message by sharing with me that he was raised Hindu but that he really wanted to learn more about who Jesus is & that he thought he needed to come to church to find out. That's where we were able to share with him that our next message series is called "I Am" & it's Jesus talking about Himself, telling us who He is. 

This young man would have most likely never set foot on our property or had a conversation with the pastor were it not for the church's willingness to get outside the church's building. He would have possibly never heard the Gospel & had it stir something in his soul. Churches are often worried about what it will cost to do something really different. Churches should be worried about what it will cost if they don't do something different. Are our comforts, traditions, & conveniences really worth withholding the Gospel from our neighbors? Today is a different day. Many non-believers will no longer just show up in our sanctuaries on Sunday. That means we need to get out of the sanctuary & hit the battlefield. There are souls to save, lives to change, & seeds to sow. 

How can you & your church get outside the church in order to advance the Gospel?

Who Moved My Pulpit?

I wanted to give you a quick review of Thom Rainer's book, "Who Moved My Pulpit?". Dr. Rainer & B&H Publishing were gracious enough to get me some advance copies to review & distribute to ministry leaders. If you'd like to enter to win one of those copies, you've got three option. First, visit my Twitter page & follow the instruction in my #WhoMovedMyPulpit tweets. Or you can visit my Facebook page & follow the instructions in my "Who Moved My Pulpit?" updates. The last option is the easiest; you can simply leave a comment here on the blog. However, you need to hurry though because tomorrow I'll be selecting the winners & getting these advance copies out. If you miss out on one of the freebies, you'll be able to find it at bookstores on June 1st.

Dr. Rainer's focus in this book is on leading change effectively in the church. Some of the impetus for writing this book comes from the fact that 90% of churches are plateaued or in decline compared to their community. The overwhelming majority of churches need to change in order to survive & continue to be a viable part of the Great Commission.

In the book Dr. Rainer outlines a roadmap for leading change in the church that would serve as a solid baseline for any leader in any ministry context. In fact, I'm passing on copies of this book to our Church Leadership Team as we work through the process of revitalizing the ministry in our congregation. I'm also planning to get some copies to our local denominational leadership who will be working with churches seeking to revitalize.

If you serve on a church staff or as a ministry lay leader, you should invest in this little book. I finished it up in a couple of hours, so it's a quick but loaded read. If you'd like more information on "Who Moved My Pulpit?" visit the official website.

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.

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.

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.

The Friday Five

This week's Friday Five features leads off with a nod to one of my musical heroes & includes an important read & resource for Christians all over our nation. I hope you enjoy this week's Friday Five.

1. Music: "Hey Jude" by Wilson Pickett. I'm still shocked at how many people don't know about this song. Yes, they know the song; after all, it is a Beatles classic. However, not too long after the Fab Four released it, the legendary soul singer took it on after being encouraged by a long haired hippie guitar player to record it. That long haired hippie was Duane Allman, one of the all time great guitar players. At this time the Allman Brothers Band had not been formed, & Duane was in Muscle Shoals, AL trying to get session work at the legendary Fame Studios. Pickett & Allman's partnership on "Hey Jude" made the song a hit again, & most people recognize Duane's closing guitar solo & the corresponding riff beginning at 2:44 as the beginning of southern rock. 
2. Quote: "We want just enough Jesus to make us acceptable but not enough Jesus to make us fanatical." Bryan Loritts
3. Article/Post: Living On Mission To Reach The Lost. This is a great little article from the North American Mission Board that reminds church members that ALL Christians have a missionary call on their life. In fact, we live in on of the most unreached nations on earth. We just assume otherwise because there are so many church buildings. If we're going to reach our nation, we will have to reach our cities, & if we're going to reach our cities, then we'll have to reach our neighborhoods & workplaces. That means WE are going to have to see ourselves as Great Commission agents & embrace that role so that others see the hope & power of the Gospel in our lives.
4. Podcast: Rainer On Leadership. Them Rainer is the president & CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. Each week Dr. Rainer provides excellent content not just for pastors but for church members as well. Dr. Rainer often provides great insights for both ministry leaders and church members to consider & gets discussion started through his podcast & blog. It's definitely worth your time.
   
5. Nerd Corner: My friends & family know I'm a guitar junkie. If money were no object, I'd blow a lot of it on guitars. I'm the classic guitar guy who always has one more to add to the collection & "it's the last one I'll ever need..." until of course I see another cool one. With all that said, if you're a guitar junkie too or if you just appreciate fine craftsmanship, follow Gibson Guitars on Instagram. Sure, it may make you wrestle with the temptation to covet, but the price tag on those beauties will usually cure the need pretty quickly.

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.

Adopted By The King

This weekend we began a new series at Zebulon to celebrate Easter. This new series is called "Family Matters," & over the next few weeks we want to talk about things that are important to families because families are important. However, we don't want it to just be a list of tips & techniques to be a better spouse, parent, child, etc. Instead we want to demonstrate how embracing the truth of the Gospel & living the Gospel life will transform every part of your life, including your family.

So we began our series with the issue that matters most to us & our families. Before our families can be all that we want them to be & all that they could be, we first have to be a part of God's family. And the good news of the Gospel is that in Christ we're not only offered the gift of salvation we're also invited to accept the gift of a new identity.

"In Christ, God Doesn't Just Accept Us. He Adopts Us."

Romans 8 is one of the most beautiful chapters in all of Scripture, & in verse 15 Paul tells us that when we accept the truth of the Gospel, not only are we forgiven but we receive what Paul calls "the Spirit of adoption." It means that we are brought into God's family with full rights. It means we become co-heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God. It means that our old identity is gone. Our old debts...gone. Our old obligations...gone. Instead Paul tells us in verse 12 that we have an obligation, but it's not a slavish obligation. It's an obligation to our Father, & it's an obligation to our family. It means we have a responsibility to be about what our Father would be about, namely loving & reaching the lost & making disciples out of sinners.

In Christ, we've been adopted by the King of the universe. We've been made sons & daughters of the Most High God through the life, death, & resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yes, when we turn to Christ in faith, trusting Him alone to save us, our sins are forgiven, & we are justified before God. However, in addition to that, we also are brought into a new family with all the rights, privileges, & responsibilities that come with it. Now that's Good News.

What Makes A Church Big?

Some people love big churches. Others can't stand them. Those that love big churches point out how a big church can offer more programs & events. Those that don't like the idea of a big church point out how once a church gets to a certain size, you lose that sense of "everybody knows everybody." What if the things we use to define & judge big churches aren't really what makes a church big? What if attendance or number of programs really has very little to do with whether a particular church is really big? What if a church of 100 in attendance were actually a big church? And what if a church of 10,000 in attendance were actually miles away from being a big church? What if it's not just the "big churches" that can have a big impact or a big ministry footprint? What if big has less to do with the size of our congregation & more to do with our vision of the Gospel?

"You Don't Need To Be A Big Church To Have A Big Footprint.

You Just Need To Serve A Big God & Have A Big Vision."

Big as the world defines it, & usually as the Christian sub-culture defines it, is all about numbers. It's about the number of people in attendance & dollars in the bank. However, that's not big. A big church is a church that leaves a big impact wherever it goes for the Gospel. It's a group of people who seize their opportunities to have a Gospel influence at their jobs, in their neighborhoods, & yes, even to the ends of the earth. It's been said that the true measure of a church isn't its seating capacity but its sending capacity, & that truth hasn't changed. A church of 100 that mobilizes those believers to advance the Gospel & make disciples is a bigger church than the one that simply draws 1000 to a service. In Revelation 3, Jesus speaks to a church in the ancient city of Philadelphia who on the surface doesn't look very strong, but they are faithful. As a result, Jesus says He has opened a door for them to be a Gospel influence in the world. They're not "big". They're not impressive, but their faithfulness makes them far more fruitful than a church that may be bigger & more impressive on the surface.

Here's the tension for us church folks though. If you're that church of 100 who is mobilizing people for ministry, you probably won't be a church of 100 for very long. After all you're reaching people with the Gospel & inviting them to connect to God's Church as they learn to follow Jesus. That means we have to hold on to our programs, ministries, structures, methods, & buildings with a loose grip so that those we've reached with the Gospel can come on board & find their place in the Body & in the mission. We're not calling people to follow our church or our way of doing ministry. We're calling them to follow Christ. If our vision & mission can be contained by our methods & our traditions, then our mission is too small. The mission of advancing the Gospel is bigger than all of our churches & all of our models & methods. 

So let's strive to be big churches, but not big by the world's standards. Instead let's pursue big by Scripture's standard. A big church is a faithful church, & a faithful church will be fruitful. What's a faithful church look like. First, according to Revelation 3 it's faithful to Jesus' word. Broadly that means being faithful to Scripture, but more specifically it means being faithful to the Gospel. Secondly, it means not denying Jesus' name. It means standing boldly for Jesus & putting all things aside in order to serve Him, know Him, & make Him known. When we do that our ministry footprint can become bigger than our ministry facilities. When we do that being a big church take on a whole new meaning.

Moving The Immovable

Mission & vision have been big time buzz words among church leaders for years, & in recent years these concepts have trickled down into the language of church members & attenders as well. Mission & vision are the things that help us move people, & we've all heard some pretty good stories about the church being just about immovable. However, it's not just the church. All people tend to want to settle into a comfortable rut. Mission & vision are the things that we hope will create & sustain momentum. Mission & vision are the things that help an organization or ministry know who they are, where they're going, & what they're doing. However, if we're not careful they also can become idols.

When mission & vision statements & strategies & processes become the true trademark of the church, we're in danger of elevating them to a place that's unhealthy, unhelpful, & most importantly unbiblical. Too often we think that we can move our ministries & move our people with mission & vision, but in the church it can be a little more nuanced than that. We can craft incredible vision statements. We can build strategies & processes that if implemented, will undoubtedly lead us where we want to go. But when dealing with the church, there is something else that absolutely cannot be left behind or overlooked. In fact, it has to move our people, our ministries, & us as leaders more than our clever cliches about mission & vision. 

That one thing is the Gospel. When leading a church or ministry, this has to be the foundation, & you can't assume that foundation is there. To start with mission & vision without the solid & consistent backdrop of the Gospel is to put the cart before the horse. Sure, you want to reach the lost & make disciples. Yes, you have an incredible strategy to lead people into greater faith in Jesus. However, if you & those you lead are not first moved by the power of the Gospel, you will experience a powerful truth about ministry leadership.

"No Amount Of Mission & Vision Will Move A People 

Who Are Unmoved By The Gospel."

Lately I've been spending a lot of time looking at Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3. So many of them had gone off the tracks in one way or another. For some it was bad doctrine, for others it was the temptation to drift back toward religious pursuit of God rather than resting in the Gospel. In each case, Jesus calls the church to repentance. He doesn't call them to greater organizational alignment. He calls them to remember the Gospel & hold fast to it, & if they do that, they'll be confronted with their need to repent of whatever has gotten them off track. Some of these churches looked pretty good on the outside. They appeared to have it all together. However, they had drifted away from the Gospel, & the key to getting things right wasn't to remind the church of its mission & vision. First, they had to be reminded of & moved again by the life changing message of the Gospel. 

So whether you're leading a thriving, growing ministry, or planting a new church in a difficult area, or taking on a church in need of revival & revitalization, work on casting mission & vision to your congregation, build the process necessary to lead people into greater faithfulness, but first & foremost, preach the Gospel. If we lose sight of the Gospel, the mission begins to fall on deaf ears. If we've forgotten the power of the Gospel in our own life, we will not sense the urgency to experience it fresh & anew as we grow or to invite others to experience it for themselves. Before we will be moved by our mission, we must first be moved by the Gospel.

Complain, Compromise, Or Confront?

Recently our church has been digging into Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3. One of the reasons why these passages are so important & so practical right now to the church in America is that these churches were living in the middle of a very hostile culture. Being the church in the 1st century Roman Empire was not easy. Pretty much no matter where you lived in the empire, you & your church were going to be under pressure & would probably face persecution of some kind. As Jesus speaks to these churches, He's talking to them about what they need to do in order to be a faithful effective witness even in the midst of a hostile culture. In America our culture is becoming increasingly hostile to faithful Christianity. This however is a new development for most of us. Until recent years, for the most part the church & the culture agree on some basics of right & wrong, good & evil. There was never total agreement, but in general biblical values, ethics, & principles translated to our culture. Those days are long gone. That's why Revelation 2 & 3 are some of the most relevant passages for the church to look at. In these 2 chapters we run into many of the problems that plague churches & threaten their ability to effectively advance the Gospel & make disciples. However, we also see what needs to happen in order for congregations to right the ship & become faithful witnesses to their world again.

We have so much more in common with the past than we realize. Then, like now, there was the temptation to engage culture in one of two extremes: complain or compromise. The complaining church walls itself off from the world, points their fingers, & complain about how bad the culture is, how hopeless it is. The irony however is that in their pursuit to "remain pure", they've actually walled themselves off from the very people they're called to reach. They've also unintentionally denied the power of the Gospel. After all, to think that anyone is "too lost" for the Gospel denies the Gospel's power. The other extreme is to compromise. The compromising church worries about "being on the right side of history." The compromising church is more focused on cultural tolerance than faithfulness to Christ. Therefore, it becomes easy for that congregation to begin to mix a little bit of our culture's values in with biblical teaching. They may even do all of this in the name of reaching the lost. After all, didn't Jesus hang out with sinners? Yes, He did, but there's a big difference between going where they are & doing what they do. In all of Jesus' encounters with sinners, no one ever accused Him of sin. The worst they could do was try to make him guilty by association. 

Jesus was tolerant of sinners, but not in the way that we define tolerance in 2015. Jesus' tolerance refused to condemn the sinner & instead compassionately confronted the sinner & invited the sinner to follow Him. That's the kind of tolerance the church should exercise today. In Revelation 2 in His words to the church in Thyatira, Jesus makes it clear that He cannot tolerate a church that is more tolerant than He is. We're called to follow His cue. not the world's.

"Culture Doesn't Need A Church Who Complains Or Compromises. 

It Needs A Church Who Courageously & Compassionately
Confronts It With The Gospel."

The church that either sits back & complains about the culture or who compromises to the culture actually robs the culture of the Gospel. Compromise dilutes the power of the Gospel because compromise always leads us away from its transforming power. Complaining does no good at all because it subtly tells the world, "You're too far gone." If the Gospel you believe in is too weak to save the worst sinner you know, it's probably too weak to save you as well. We have a message that has unimaginable power to raise the dead & transform sinners to saints. If you've really experienced the Gospel's power, you know there is no one that God could not save. So we can't afford to turn our church buildings into bunkers where we talk about the good ol' days & complain about the culture, & we can't afford to check Jesus at the door of our churches so that we can be more appealing to the culture. Neither of those approaches requires any faith or courage. It's time for us to be courageous enough to contradict our culture by compassionately confronting it with the hope of the Gospel. We have three paths to choose: complaining, compromising, or compassionately confronting. Which will you choose? Which will your congregation choose?

The Death Of Church-Wide Ministry

There's an issue that many churches face that's reached epidemic proportions. For one reason or another, too many congregations have become islands within their communities. The community has changed, but the church hasn't. Usually that also means the congregation has fallen behind in actually engaging & 

ministering to its immediate community.

Each week members & attenders drive in from other parts of town to worship, study, & serve. Then we drive back to our neighborhoods while the neighborhood around the church becomes increasingly neglected by the church. This almost never happens intentionally. It's usually the result of not knowing what to do as things change & usually change rapidly. However, the end result is a congregation that becomes more & more obsessed with themselves rather than the mission to reach those far from God. That's a recipe for disaster: the community is abandoned by the church & the church slowly begins to die.

"Churches Need To Replace Church-Wide Ministry 

With Community-Wide Ministry."

The only cure for what ails the church that finds itself in this or a similar situation is a radical shift back to mission focus instead of me focus. Everything a local congregation does should seek to serve not just its membership but its neighborhood. Our family ministries shouldn't simply serve our families. They should serve the families of our community. Our student ministries can't just serve our teenagers. They need to engage with & serve the teenagers in our churches' neighborhood. Our benevolence ministries can't simply be about feeding & clothing the less fortunate. They have to be about seeking to feed & clothe the lost with Christ. All of our ministries need to become radically Gospel-saturated. Every penny we spend should have a Gospel focus, whether that be a direct Gospel focused outreach or the clear equipping of the church for Gospel ministry to the congregation's community.

Many churches in America are in desperate need of revitalization. They're sick. Some of them are dying. Many of those struggling churches find themselves in the situation of being in the middle of a neighborhood they aren't serving or reaching. Attendance is declining. Giving is down. So we begin to try to figure out how we can salvage things. Meanwhile, the answer is literally all around the church. Perhaps the reason why our congregations are struggling is because we've abandoned many of our communities. A radical return to the mission is in order. It's time for our congregations to recognize our communities are our mission field. To ignore them is to ignore Jesus' call to His church & to deprive our neighborhoods of the hope found in the Gospel. Let's get rid of church-wide ministry & replace it with community-wide ministry.

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.

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.

The Only Change That Changes Anything

Leading always involves change. It's unavoidable. It's almost always uncomfortable. It's always necessary. Leadership by definition involves taking people or an organization where it's never been before, so change is inevitable. When leading a congregation, change is especially difficult & sometimes deceptive. It's difficult because in many settings there hasn't been meaningful change at the structural or organization level for years, decades, or maybe ever! Ironically that lack of change makes change even more necessary in order to move forward. 

Here's where the deceptive part of change comes in. It's tempting & dangerously easy for both leaders & those in the congregation to believe the lie that simply changing programs, schedules, strategies, & structures will affect lasting, meaningful change for the congregation & that all of issues the group may have endured will magically disappear. I'm sure as you're reading that you're realizing how silly it is to think that way, but deep down we've all been fooled into thinking those external changes will some how lead to drastic internal changes. I wish it were that simple, but it's far more messy & complicated than that.

"Changing Programs & Structures Doesn't Change A Church. 

Only Changed People Change A Church."

Changing programs & structures is actually a lot easier than changing people. However, changed people are far more powerful than changed programs & structures. The hope is that changing structures & programs may create a more suitable environment for people to experience the life changing power of the Gospel & the community of the Church, but that doesn't guarantee that we will actually experience it. We are incredibly skilled at resisting Jesus & His desire to transform us. Our structures & programs are important, but don't be fooled; they're no magic bullet. If they were, 75%-80% of evangelical churches wouldn't be plateaued or in decline. If changing your groups structure or worship service or meeting space did the trick, we would have stumbled onto the right trick by now. 

Instead, we need a renewed commitment to creating the right environments & structures for growth to happen while also praying desperately that God would do what only He can do in our lives & in the lives of those we serve with & lead. So if you're a leader, don't think you can program or structure life change & heart change in your congregation. You can't. You're not Jesus. That doesn't mean you shouldn't boldly lead & implement the changes that are necessary. It just means that you need to remind yourself that those changes aren't really the change we're hoping for & praying for. If you're the member of a congregation that's in the middle of some kind of transition, change, or revitalization ministry, embrace the change that comes, but don't assume that those changes are just going to "fix" everything. Instead, immerse yourself in a fresh pursuit of Christ & what it would look like to embody His life through your life. Don't just attend a Bible study; pursue meeting with Christ through that Bible study & let Him begin to change you. Don't just serve in that ministry; seek to make Christ known through your ministry to & love for those you serve. After all,  the only thing that will really change your congregation, is when you & I are changed. Changing programs & structures can't affect meaningful change, only changed people.