The Dawn of a new Day

I grew up in the church….man…I could have been born in a pew. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s (born in 74) and I had a good first hand look at church culture. I always marveled at the handful of mighty Men of Woman of God that had a platform to lead, speak, and influence others from. We seem to love to identify ourselves with a dynamic leader whom we respect and is having an influence. Heck, in 1 Corinthians Paul had to address this issue with the church because they were saying ‘“I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”’. It seems to be human nature to want to belong to a certain camp. Actually, the real issue is we really want to belong to someone and something that matters.

So this brings me to my main point here. Typically, in Christian western culture we have a tendency to exalt Christian celebrities and to identify ourselves with them. This is not all bad, because we need strong leaders and reformers in the Church. The main issue here is that Christ is not divided. He is whole. I think a contributing reason that we act like this is because we all want to have a voice. We all want to be identified with what is true and we want our lives to make a difference. These are healthy things. The problem is we have and “us and them” mentality. Do you realize that we have this vocabulary of “laypeople” and “clergy”? I understand this language is not as common as it used to be… but I think the mentality it created is still common. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is raising up an Army of lovers in these last days. He is not raising up an Army of Clergy in these last days….His body is starting to wake, stretch, and arise from the shadows. It is the job of Christian leaders to equip you to minister to the world around you. You are to heal the sick, feed the poor, love the dying, displace hate, and re-present Christ. You are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see. The Kingdom of God (His domain) resides within you. If you know Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you….you are called into ministry. Your primary identity is to be a son or daughter of the Father. Your default role is that you get to minister of His goodness to those around you. The Gospel is called the Good News…..is your news good?

(Practical) I am so busy right now I can’t see straight. I feel like time is not on my side… but at the same time I don’t want to be just be that neat church guy…I want to take my walk to the street. We can listen to His voice. Last week after church we were in a busy restaurant and it was packed. There was this bus boy and he was working his tail off. One of the folks at our table said “Man, look at that guy, he hates his job”. It was a statement said with sympathy. I started watching this young man and he was working very hard. He actually had too much work for just one dude. This is not the type of restaurant that you normally tip at. You pay at the counter, eat, and leave. I could not stop thinking about him as we all were enjoying ourselves and visiting. The kid looked beat down and I don’t think he had much self esteem. So, it came time for us to go and we walked outside and the Holy Spirit was poking my heart. I was thinking what can I do for this guy? But, in my heart I knew. So I took most of the cash in my wallet (that I was saving my tattoo!) and walked back in. It was perfect…he was in an area by himself. I walked over and gave him the cash and told him that I had been watching him and that he was such a hard worker.  I said that his strong work ethic will take him places in life (I actually felt this was a prophetic statement) and we sure appreciate the service you gave us. I told him I was a minister (just like you are…feel free to steal that line!) and gave him my card with my cell phone# on it. I said if you ever need to talk to someone feel free to call me. I put my arm around him and squeezed His shoulder like a father would. He was stunned…and just said "thank you sir"…and kept staring at the card I gave him.

I didn't cure aids that day. I didn't see someone get out of a wheelchair. I just listened to the heartbeat of heaven and did my best to love. The Father loves that young man enough to tell him that He sees his hard work. Actually, the Father loves that young man so much to show him the HE sees him. That was good news to that young man that day. I planted a seed and God will water it and cause His Sun (Son) to shine on it. 

Don’t look to a platform or a leader to identify with. Look to the hurting, lost, addicted, and selfish to identify yourself with. You don’t need to identify with a certain camp or party. You are the body of Christ….Now Rise…and walk on.

Knowing Whose and Who

So some of you may know that we started a new ministry late last year called Equip. Our desire is to see people Equipped for the work of ministry. I believe every person who is a believer in Jesus is also called to the ministry. We are each called to be ambassadors and  representatives of His Goodness. The "Gospel" means "good news" and it is not just a select few who are called to spread this news...it is all who belong to Jesus. I don't subscribe to the philosophy of clergy and laypeople. Sure, some may be in full time ministry and others may function in an office in the church (teacher, pastor, evangelist, bishop,etc.) But when Jesus gave the great commission and said go into all the world and preach the good news of the Kingdom... he did not add a clause that said (only if you have a theology degree and serve in full time ministry!) We are His hands, feet, and voice.... he chooses is US!

So....with all that said, I do believe that we need to be equipped for the work of ministry, and that not only involves correct thinking but should also translate into the practical experience of a demonstration of Gods power. Jesus method of teaching the Kingdom of God was show and tell. God Loves you...and let me show it by healing the sick and casting out evil. It is very effective...this show and tell method. We live in a society that promotes knowledge above actual experience and thinks knowledge transfer without practical application is enough. (I know this is not always the case) Leading a Muslim to the knowledge of Jesus is much more effective after his daughter just got healed by Jesus. But...that is not what this post in about. I believe the first step in this process of becoming an equipped minister of the Gospel is - Knowing Who He is Knowing Whose We Are-  We watched a teaching about this last week and afterwards the Holy Spirit showed up in such a way to demonstrate how much he loves us and demonstrate how God views us. It was pretty awesome.

For this Blog post I want to talk about Knowing Who He is.This statement talks about having a proper view of who God is. Growing up as a Pastors kid I remember feeling like I should be better and had this overall feeling that God was displeased with me most of the time. I could never measure up. I knew I sinned and quite frankly sinning seemed better to me than hanging out with some folks who followed God. It seemed there was this unending list of things that I should be doing, but did not do, and whenever I had an inkling of doing something good it seemed futile because my bad list was far longer than my good list. Frustrating. I thought the Gospel was "Repent, God is coming back for His church and you will be left behind to face Hell!" It was very effective as scaring the living daylights out of me, but not so effective at transforming me to follow Jesus. I finally gave up and put two middle fingers in the air and just walked away. This God business was lame and Christians did not seem so cool...they were kind of not really happy people and seemed condemned. (I later met real joy filled believers) I went to a Christian School and we were encouraged to get rid of "bad" music because it had demonic messages in it. Maybe it did...but at the time I really loved that music and dealing with the external fruit of someones life is not the most effective way to present the Gospel. Deal with the Heart in the Way of Love.

1 John 4:8 - Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

My view of God was very much an Old Covenant (Testament) view of God. Do things right and you will be blessed. Mess up and suffer the wrath and Judgement of God. Ironically, Jesus came to SAVE us from the wrath of God. Jesus tells a story of Father God that talks of a son who blew all his inheritance and went and partied like a rock star. Ended up in the projects eating out of In&Out dumpsters. Then he realizes his Dad's employees got it better than this. Maybe his dad will take him back as a low end employee? He comes back and Dad is stoked and gives the kid a new Armani suit and throws a huge block party to welcome back His son. He was lost, now he was found! His older brother (who represents the mindset of religion...you gotta earn it) is not happy because his brother did not deserve that treatment. I mean he did blow all his money at the clubs on Red Bull&Vodkas and high end weed.... ( OK I am paraphrasing Luke 15:11-32... read it for yourself)

God is Love and does not pay us back for what we deserve. The Father reaches out to us and wants to bring us home. Our true home is the Love of the Father made available through Jesus. Jesus takes your report card with your measly C's, D's and so many F's and does a great exchange. He will trade you His straight A's for your jacked up report card. See, Jesus was the perfect one that towed the straight line on our behalf. He did the hard work for you....he measured up so then you can measure up. Our work consists in believing that God is really Good and he wants us to come back home. Man...high end weed is nothing once you know the love of the Father. (Note: I challenge you that this love should not be just a head knowledge thing..but by the Holy Spirit we can really experience His love NOW)  Our work is to believe in Jesus's perfect report card that He give to us. That's so awesome..and really is Good News. He not only takes us back but brings restoration. Who is God? He is love, He is a perfect Father, He is Good, He is Almighty, He is Holy... and He wants to adopt you into his family.

My prayer is if you have drifted away from home you will find your way back. Just ask Him and he will listen and bring you Home again. Much Love - Now..isn't that Good News?