The following will be more of a blook than a blog. If you are one of my faithful readers and you are more accustomed to a quick read, such will not be the case here. You may have to take this in some paced plan of reading. No apologies; I have good news here.
My spiritual journey of late has taken me through a wide range of lessons, emotions and, ultimately, sweet, sweet growth. I’d like very much to relate what’s been trusted to me and, if you’ll have it, make it yours. Submission to someone who has gained wisdom from God will save years, even decades for the recipient. Watchman Nee once said, in essence, we can lengthen our lives by buying the years of someone whose spiritual authority is authentic. If that doesn’t sound humble enough for you, then I offer this; I’ve always seen myself as one of God’s crash test dummies. If you just long to be thrown into walls and waste time picking up the pieces go ahead…you can quite literally knock yourself out. Or, I offer you my test results.
Several months ago I wrote a blog entitled, “Hello. My Name is Truth”. For the sake of my purposes today I’d like to ask you to revisit these words;
“Truth will wreck you. It will set you right side up is an upside down world. Truth will strip you of every selfish notion devised by your past, your pains, your problems, your personality, your preferences, your possesiveness, your poverty, your personality, your prosperity, your pity, your power, your perfectionism, your performance, your peers, your paralysis, your predespositions, your prudishness, your put-ons, your papa and your paranoia.
Truth will meet you head-on with no intention of slowing down or dodging you. It's reality will be like headlights frozen on high-beam bearing down on you in it's own lane, challenging you to awaken to the reality that you are in the wrong lane. As a matter of fact, Truth won't even ‘honk’. That sound you hear is your adrenalized heart-beating.
Truth, while not forgiving in itself, will lead you to forgiveness. Truth is a living power, a driving rain storm, a relentless blizzard and a sunshine drenched perfect day. Jesus said, ‘I AM the Truth....’. Truth walks. Truth talks. Truth laughs. Truth weeps. Truth bleeds. Truth will die with every intention of living larger later.
Truth will set you free, not in spite of these things, but BECAUSE of these things. Truth heals us when we accept the stark fact that we don't know it. Truth delivers us when we crawl across the gravel of life, reach our bleeding fingers toward its hem and snatch it hard to our weeping face and say in our heart, ‘If I can just touch the edge of Truth I will be free’.”
Someone once said, “the truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable”. The length of the season of misery is entirely up to us. If we resist it, if we try to negotiate with it and even if we acknowledge it but postpone our cooperation with it until a more convenient time, the misery is ours and the freedom waits.
Here’s a Truth; Psalm 68:5,6 says, “A Father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land”. The Amplified Version of verse 6 says, “God places the solitary in families…”.
Note the clear description of God’s character which anchors Him in His purposes, plans and procedures. Everything God does flows out of His enthroned character. Since He is a perfect Father, He acts in our lives AS a father to shepherd us into families and out of solitude. When He sees loneliness, He acts precipitously to create a home, a covering and a protective productive environment to drive the loneliness far from our experience. Why? To create the hot-house for our best human potential.
Even if I have done something worthy of imprisonment, God is acting just outside my line of sight arranging a scenario for my prosperity if I will dare to cooperate. I can most certainly choose to throw in the towel and spend my remaining days crying about how “the man” put me down and I will most certainly die with an impoverished heart. Or I can come out of whatever prison I’ve been in, lean hard on the enthroned character of God and discover new treasure and prosperity for my soul.
But it’s the last part of Psalm 68:6 that can really shake us up; “…only the rebellious dwell in a parched land”. Ouch! Do you see what I see? Since God’s character will only allow Him to be Good and out of that Goodness He is creating a home, a covering and a protective productive environment for my highest and best human potential then the only thing that could put me in a parched dead place is my own rebellion to Him.
Now here’s the punch-line of this whole matter; God’s Kingdom Transcendency functions at its highest supremacy in the context of the anointed corporate family. That’s called covering. When I am in a covering, I am submitted to the greater purposes, plans and procedures of God’s greater power and presence. When I am separate from covering I am subject to the parched and withering effects of standing alone in the wind and heat. In a covering I am consistently available to the natural and supernatural resources gathered by a family made for me by God’s enthroned character. It’s impossible to be dried out in that climate! In fact, another Psalm (133) says that when spiritual siblings dwell (consistently hang together) in unity (passionate purpose) it is like the dew of Hermon coming on the mountains of Zion and God COMMANDS a blessing there! Where God COMMANDS blessings, you don’t have to ask!
If I’m parched then I need to return to the last place I remember being watered. For me, that would be in a spirit anointed covering family. But to be perfectly honest, I cannot remember the last time I felt parched….no brag, just fact. Why is that, you might ask? Because I refuse to live outside of the atmosphere of God’s character which is always preparing the environment of a covering home creating the hot-house for my highest and best.
Many of you know that my wife Ginger and I recently traveled to Redding California for a Leadership Advance at Bethel Church. This is my 2nd trip there in the last 7 months. What you might not know is that we also went there to finalize our new relationship with them for covering and ordination. We have spent the past 2 years looking into what God is doing through Pastor Bill Johnson and the Bethel tribe. I’ve read countless books and articles by them, listened to hundreds of hours of teaching, talked with one of the gentlemen who is a part of their apostolic team and furiously sought the Face of the Father for discernment and leading. When we arrived, Bill said to the conference, “This whole week is going to be about impartation” and it was. Session after session was totally disrupted by the raw power of God coming in the room and owning us.
The end result is that our church and Ginger and I are now a part of a Kingdom Family that goes by the name of Global Legacy (the church networking arm of Bethel). We have entered into this covering with more joy than I can adequately express with the English language. I’ve told many people that the DNA match is perfect and the atmosphere of Heaven’s Kingdom is increasing in us and around us exponentially. The atmosphere of our church is tangibly ALIVE and spiritually drenched! We’re not praying for revival, we are in one and the Kingdom of God is present here with power! Our prayer now is for stewardship of this work to spread through time and space as it is passed to the next generation for multiplication of its efficacy and influence.
The reason we began this search is that where we have been in a family of covering for 25 years has ceased to be able to function in that capacity. I will continue to follow the path of the honorable sons of Noah who backed into the bedroom to discreetly cover the embarrassment of their dad (Genesis 9:23) as it relates to this matter. It is only germane to the subject to say the time had come for us to follow God’s character into this new tribe.
Here’s the specific teachable moment of this blook/blog. If you are and have been parched for some definable length of time, ask yourself; “Am I cooperating with the precipitous nature of God’s desire to cover me with spiritual family?”
Even if you are physically in a church you might be rebelling against what God is trying to do on your behalf in the context of that tribe. The result is that dry dearth all around you. End the rebellion and dive into the deep end of what God is doing in your spiritual family.
Or, you might be staying in a “church” where God has not specifically planted you. Your thirst is calling you out of that wilderness. “Oh, but brother….God has called me to the wilderness”. There are 2 types of wildernesses in scripture: one was the result of rebellion where a few days journey turned into 40 years of wandering. If that’s your wilderness…for crying out loud REPENT and get out of there! The other wilderness lasted for 40 DAYS and ended in a reverberating triumph over the devil when Jesus stepped forward into His destiny. If your “wilderness” has lasted longer than 40 DAYS your victory over the devil is overdue…get a Word from God, and put darkness under your feet as you walk out of the wilderness and into your destiny.
It is impossible to be dry for more than a few days at a time if I’m properly positioned in the spiritually covering family that the nature and character of God has drawn me into. Here is yet another Psalm (chapter one) that I will paraphrase and end this with; “Blessed is the person who has had an awakening of heart, soul and mind to end relationships that just suck the life out of them without any return or end in sight. That person has had the Spirit’s good sense to be delighted with God’s nature and character which will plants them in river enriched soil that supernaturally makes them like the most glorious tree you have ever imagined with leaves as big as elephant ears and greener than Al Gore. Everything they touch flourishes, thrives and prospers because they are loaded with an intrinsic value that radiates out from them and brings value to their surroundings.”
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Raise the Dead
What is it about Jesus and His claims that just push our buttons? What is it about His Words, (Matthew 10:8) “…heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…” that simply and flat out make us uncomfortable? Why do these outrageous statements even need to be addressed? WHY? Because, like the mountain to the climber, it is there.
Jesus speaks to us from His own native soil, Heaven’s Kingdom. We are the foreigners. His is the native tongue and it is our obligation, if we have any desire at all to function even nominally in the Kingdom of God, to lean into His lingua franca and once and for all to be truly enlightened.
Are we terrified that we might learn something that would steal us away from our own agendas? Are we so currently spiritually vibrant and attractive that there is simply no room for any more of God’s beauties to be seen in us? Has a watching world around us been swept up in a trembling swoon at the sheer magnitude of the goodness of God at work within us? (Jeremiah 33:3 & 9)
Jesus’ command from the aforementioned reference in Matthew is concluded with, “…freely you received, freely give.” Internal splendor can become external health for the benefit of those in need.
As I observe the generalized “us”, the collective bin of believers in 2008 I hear the Holy Spirit shouting, “You can not regain externally what you’ve lost internally. You can not restore material systems before you reclaim true spiritual power. You can not win spiritual domain swinging humanistic weapons. You can not regain through political clout what you’ve lost in spiritual clarity. Healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and casting out demons is irretrievably rooted in freely receiving that you may freely give! Like baby birds in a nest, learn to receive Heaven’s Kingdom with Heaven’s King in a saturated certainty throughout all of your internal realities. I have a Niagara of Life awaiting channels for release. You have but to unmercifully slay stunted human reasoning and be resurrected to a revolution of REAL LIFE!”
Jesus speaks to us from His own native soil, Heaven’s Kingdom. We are the foreigners. His is the native tongue and it is our obligation, if we have any desire at all to function even nominally in the Kingdom of God, to lean into His lingua franca and once and for all to be truly enlightened.
Are we terrified that we might learn something that would steal us away from our own agendas? Are we so currently spiritually vibrant and attractive that there is simply no room for any more of God’s beauties to be seen in us? Has a watching world around us been swept up in a trembling swoon at the sheer magnitude of the goodness of God at work within us? (Jeremiah 33:3 & 9)
Jesus’ command from the aforementioned reference in Matthew is concluded with, “…freely you received, freely give.” Internal splendor can become external health for the benefit of those in need.
As I observe the generalized “us”, the collective bin of believers in 2008 I hear the Holy Spirit shouting, “You can not regain externally what you’ve lost internally. You can not restore material systems before you reclaim true spiritual power. You can not win spiritual domain swinging humanistic weapons. You can not regain through political clout what you’ve lost in spiritual clarity. Healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers and casting out demons is irretrievably rooted in freely receiving that you may freely give! Like baby birds in a nest, learn to receive Heaven’s Kingdom with Heaven’s King in a saturated certainty throughout all of your internal realities. I have a Niagara of Life awaiting channels for release. You have but to unmercifully slay stunted human reasoning and be resurrected to a revolution of REAL LIFE!”
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Sound of Resurrection
Luke 4:31-37 and 43 is a compelling narrative that is wrapped around the themes of voice, message and authority. “And they were amazed at His (Jesus) teaching, for His message was with authority.” Then, Luke accounts that a demon possessed man cried out with a loud voice, “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” When you think about it, this is a peculiar picture!
Notice that the demon does not say anything necessarily bad or wrong. Jesus DID come to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus was and IS the Holy One of God, but Jesus doesn’t want to let this critter occupy the air waves any more than the brief moment it grabs. In fact, Jesus puts a Word on him, “Be quiet and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him without doing him any harm.” And Luke says that even more amazement came on the crowd and, “they began discussing with one another saying, ‘What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.’”
Please allow me to take some pains to list what we see here:
1. Jesus puts authority in the air; the greek word for authority here means force, liberty, freedom, mastery, capacity, influence, jurisdiction and a right to enforce. I would call it a field of transcendent supremacy.
2. Demons know church-speak. They love to fill rooms with empty, vacant lifeless religious sounds. Swearing, drooling and threatening are too obvious.
3. The question pregnant with purpose is “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
4. Luke 4:43 answers the above question in the Words of Jesus; “I must preach the kingdom of God….for I was sent for this purpose.”
Psalm 29 says that God’s Voice thunders and is majestic. It hews out flames of fire, shakes wildernesses and makes nations skip like frightened calves when we see that He speaks as the King of Infinity. When Jesus spoke He put a new jurisdiction into the atmosphere around Him. His Voice was an affidavit and a warrant from Heaven’s Kingdom. He put God’s jurisdiction in the environment and even if you did not understand Him, you knew you must hear more.
Remember when Jesus freaked out the well fed crowd in John 6? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Yikes! Talk about a sound bite (no pun intended) that could be used against you! After the thousands left Jesus to find a better preacher, He said to His remaining disciples, if you don’t “get” that, you won’t “get” what’s coming; because, “My Words are Spirit and are Life.”
When Jesus spoke He put a new jurisdiction into the atmosphere around Him. His Voice was an affidavit and a warrant from Heaven’s Kingdom. He put God’s jurisdiction in the environment and even if you did not understand Him, you knew you must hear more. Now, you want to read something that will either bless you or freak you out some more? Luke 10:16 says, “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me…”.
I simply MUST have that Voice! I refuse to fill rooms with vacant religious sounds that leave people unchanged and dominated by the poisons of our culture.
I simply MUST be one whose voice is a carrier of that Voice. I am on this planet to be His warrant officer; the bearer of the King’s Jurisdiction that arrests the darkness, puts it out of commission and fills the atmosphere with “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” And I simply MUST find others who cry out for this mantle, this clothing that can be touched for the healing of those who say in their hearts, “When I touch this, I AM HEALED!”
Notice that the demon does not say anything necessarily bad or wrong. Jesus DID come to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus was and IS the Holy One of God, but Jesus doesn’t want to let this critter occupy the air waves any more than the brief moment it grabs. In fact, Jesus puts a Word on him, “Be quiet and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him without doing him any harm.” And Luke says that even more amazement came on the crowd and, “they began discussing with one another saying, ‘What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.’”
Please allow me to take some pains to list what we see here:
1. Jesus puts authority in the air; the greek word for authority here means force, liberty, freedom, mastery, capacity, influence, jurisdiction and a right to enforce. I would call it a field of transcendent supremacy.
2. Demons know church-speak. They love to fill rooms with empty, vacant lifeless religious sounds. Swearing, drooling and threatening are too obvious.
3. The question pregnant with purpose is “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
4. Luke 4:43 answers the above question in the Words of Jesus; “I must preach the kingdom of God….for I was sent for this purpose.”
Psalm 29 says that God’s Voice thunders and is majestic. It hews out flames of fire, shakes wildernesses and makes nations skip like frightened calves when we see that He speaks as the King of Infinity. When Jesus spoke He put a new jurisdiction into the atmosphere around Him. His Voice was an affidavit and a warrant from Heaven’s Kingdom. He put God’s jurisdiction in the environment and even if you did not understand Him, you knew you must hear more.
Remember when Jesus freaked out the well fed crowd in John 6? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Yikes! Talk about a sound bite (no pun intended) that could be used against you! After the thousands left Jesus to find a better preacher, He said to His remaining disciples, if you don’t “get” that, you won’t “get” what’s coming; because, “My Words are Spirit and are Life.”
When Jesus spoke He put a new jurisdiction into the atmosphere around Him. His Voice was an affidavit and a warrant from Heaven’s Kingdom. He put God’s jurisdiction in the environment and even if you did not understand Him, you knew you must hear more. Now, you want to read something that will either bless you or freak you out some more? Luke 10:16 says, “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me…”.
I simply MUST have that Voice! I refuse to fill rooms with vacant religious sounds that leave people unchanged and dominated by the poisons of our culture.
I simply MUST be one whose voice is a carrier of that Voice. I am on this planet to be His warrant officer; the bearer of the King’s Jurisdiction that arrests the darkness, puts it out of commission and fills the atmosphere with “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” And I simply MUST find others who cry out for this mantle, this clothing that can be touched for the healing of those who say in their hearts, “When I touch this, I AM HEALED!”
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Reflections of an Election
I just won a very close election to my 6th term on a public school board of education. How close, you ask? 14 votes close and two of those 14 were mine and, I hope, my wife’s. That’s razor thin, but as they say in sports, a “w” is a “w”.
For weeks people have been asking me, “What do think about this election?” My answer has been consistently, “Either way I’ll win. If I lose, I get back bus loads of time to be with my wife and family, finish my book, pastor my church and slip some time off in there somewhere. If I win, well, I win.” But a strange thing happened to me on the way to the results; I started getting nervous about the outcome.
In the past the district administrator calls me late after he’s had time to certify the election results. Last night was no different. But “late” started getting really late. My mind said, “You’ve lost! They just don’t want to call you because they feel sorry for you.” When the phone finally rang I took a deep breath and tried to act calm (which was dumb, seeing as how my wife and dog were the only ones around to see me) and I answered the call like I didn’t know who was calling.
“Hey Randy…..do you want the good news or the bad news?” Now, if I say I want the good news it sounds greedy BUT if the good news is that I lost (remember, I’ve told everyone that no matter what, I win) I am suddenly in need of sounding cheerful when I’m not. Anyway, I’m not even sure how I answered.
“Well, I’ll give you the bad news first….you’re back on for another 3 years.” I suppressed an “ALL RIGHT! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”, and muttered an “aw shucks…well, OK”. When I laid down to go to sleep…..I couldn’t. My brain was ON. What’s up?
I’d like to tell you something really profound and spiritual sounding. Can’t do it. It came down to this; I hate losing and deep inside I was more wound up about the possibility losing this election than I had been willing to admit.
Which brings me to a teachable moment in this blog. Why am I on this board of education to begin with? To serve and demonstrate the attractive value system of God’s Kingdom in Christ. I’m not there, as some raging fundamentalist to promote creationism or intelligent design. I’m not there to protect the school from the political agenda of the “left”. I’m there to serve humans in love. The final and only valuable proof of a Creator and His intelligent design is our life, not curriculum. If we don’t live what we teach, then we are teaching something else.
I'm there to authentically love people on the “left” and the “right” and be the Voice of Christ when the voices of acrimony and hate subject educational processes to anybody’s political agenda. On the opposite side of the spectrum I’ve found that hate knows no political boundary; both sides can hate equally from behind their masks of sincerity.
I’m there to serve and demonstrate the attractive value system of God’s Kingdom in Christ. I’ve learned that God can be legally involved in public schools when His people carry Him in the front doors with a heart to love, even our enemies, perceived or otherwise.
I’ve learned that I’ll be asked to pray when I stop demanding to pray. I’ve learned that I’ll be asked to quote scripture when I stop threatening to use scripture.
I’ve learned that many political strategies will fail, but that love never fails. And since I hate losing and I enjoy winning, I think I’ll stick to the winning strategy of Kingdom living and loving.
Thank you, God, for 14 votes.
For weeks people have been asking me, “What do think about this election?” My answer has been consistently, “Either way I’ll win. If I lose, I get back bus loads of time to be with my wife and family, finish my book, pastor my church and slip some time off in there somewhere. If I win, well, I win.” But a strange thing happened to me on the way to the results; I started getting nervous about the outcome.
In the past the district administrator calls me late after he’s had time to certify the election results. Last night was no different. But “late” started getting really late. My mind said, “You’ve lost! They just don’t want to call you because they feel sorry for you.” When the phone finally rang I took a deep breath and tried to act calm (which was dumb, seeing as how my wife and dog were the only ones around to see me) and I answered the call like I didn’t know who was calling.
“Hey Randy…..do you want the good news or the bad news?” Now, if I say I want the good news it sounds greedy BUT if the good news is that I lost (remember, I’ve told everyone that no matter what, I win) I am suddenly in need of sounding cheerful when I’m not. Anyway, I’m not even sure how I answered.
“Well, I’ll give you the bad news first….you’re back on for another 3 years.” I suppressed an “ALL RIGHT! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”, and muttered an “aw shucks…well, OK”. When I laid down to go to sleep…..I couldn’t. My brain was ON. What’s up?
I’d like to tell you something really profound and spiritual sounding. Can’t do it. It came down to this; I hate losing and deep inside I was more wound up about the possibility losing this election than I had been willing to admit.
Which brings me to a teachable moment in this blog. Why am I on this board of education to begin with? To serve and demonstrate the attractive value system of God’s Kingdom in Christ. I’m not there, as some raging fundamentalist to promote creationism or intelligent design. I’m not there to protect the school from the political agenda of the “left”. I’m there to serve humans in love. The final and only valuable proof of a Creator and His intelligent design is our life, not curriculum. If we don’t live what we teach, then we are teaching something else.
I'm there to authentically love people on the “left” and the “right” and be the Voice of Christ when the voices of acrimony and hate subject educational processes to anybody’s political agenda. On the opposite side of the spectrum I’ve found that hate knows no political boundary; both sides can hate equally from behind their masks of sincerity.
I’m there to serve and demonstrate the attractive value system of God’s Kingdom in Christ. I’ve learned that God can be legally involved in public schools when His people carry Him in the front doors with a heart to love, even our enemies, perceived or otherwise.
I’ve learned that I’ll be asked to pray when I stop demanding to pray. I’ve learned that I’ll be asked to quote scripture when I stop threatening to use scripture.
I’ve learned that many political strategies will fail, but that love never fails. And since I hate losing and I enjoy winning, I think I’ll stick to the winning strategy of Kingdom living and loving.
Thank you, God, for 14 votes.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Senator Barack Obama's Church; Part II
Well, I stand by what I said back in January about the conspiracy theory ideas that were rampant about Barack Obama and his church. Now, however, we have crossed beyond conspiracy theories into the realities of what the good senator's pastor has stated loud and proud.
But before I go any further, I want some things to be understood. I don't hold Senator Obama's pastor any more or less culpable than I do any number of the current batch of pastors, of all races, who have done enormous harm to the knowledge of God's true character through their careless statements. For instance, if we declare that God has allowed deadly judgment to fall upon America because of the legality of abortions, haven't we massively muddied the waters? God is killing people because we have killed babies? I hope I don't need to explain the insanity and confusion of that contradiction.
So, Senator Obama's pastor has declared that America did not "blink" when we decided to bomb Japan. Hmmmmmmm....no bible scholar needed for that ignorance of history. President Truman agonized over the stark reality that a land invasion of Japan would likely cost a million lives, many of whom would be civilian. Japan made it abundantly clear that surrender was not an option. At Iwo Jima, our first invasion of Japanese territory, their strategy was to spill as much blood, in as gruesome a manner as possible so that an invasion of their mainland would be considered out of the question. On that small island, human loss on both sides in just a matter of weeks, was three times what we have suffered in Iraq in 5 years. I think Truman's decision was at least a well documented historic "blink".
**(March 29th correction: deaths on both sides of the battle for Iwo Jima were actually higher than my first recollection noted above. Total battle deaths in the approximate 10 weeks of fighting for this tiny island were 27,000! Over 20,000 Japanese soldiers died and 6800 American Marines died in just 8 to 10 weeks. Think about it; we've lost 4000 troops in Iraq in 5 years. Back then we lost 6800 men in a little more than 2 months, and that was considered a victory).**
More concerning to me than that, however, is that Senator Obama's pastor said, "God bless America? No, God d___ America" Why? For our racial sins. (Note: the concept of putting God at the prefix of the "d" word in print is just not in me...I know, I thought it and you probably thought it, but I just can't bring myself to PRINT it).
Again I say, hmmmmmmmmmmm. As evil as racism is, God is no longer in the business of damning anyone, anywhere for any reason. Isaiah 53:11 says that our Father has placed upon His Son the evil of us all, and HE IS SATISFIED.
It is amazing to me how stuck in the Old Testament we are in our need for God to be mad. Especially when we want Him to be mad at stuff we are mad about. The problem is, Jesus fulfilled the demand for Old Testament judgment, fulfilled the law and the prophets AND satisfied God so that now....brace yourselves....this is going to get deep.....
God so loved the world that He sent His only Son...NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, but that the world should be saved. This is in an obscure little passage in John 3. Much read and seldom embraced especially when we need God to be mad at someone we don't like. Some TV preachers did not like some folks in New Orleans and a hurricane filled their need for God to look just like them and judge.
As much as we might not like certain behaviors it is illegal to create God in our own image to validate our own bias. God has been forever beautifully painted in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Pastor Bill Johnson of Redding California says, "Only Jesus is perfect theology". Did Jesus ever send a storm on anyone? Did Jesus have a single "damn" in His vocabulary for Rome?
No....but He did have a few, "woes" for strict, uptight, judgmental religious bigots. Why a woe? Woe be to those who distort the image of the Father and frighten sinners away from the possibility of discovering that God is ONLY good.
One last note: Senator Obama has said he did not know his pastor had said these things. If someone who has been one of my sheep for 20 years did not know me any better than that, I would be disappointed, regardless of whether they could quote me word for word or not. But, I will hand to Senator Obama on another note: he refused to disconnect himself from his pastor, agree or disagree. I like that kind of loyality.
But before I go any further, I want some things to be understood. I don't hold Senator Obama's pastor any more or less culpable than I do any number of the current batch of pastors, of all races, who have done enormous harm to the knowledge of God's true character through their careless statements. For instance, if we declare that God has allowed deadly judgment to fall upon America because of the legality of abortions, haven't we massively muddied the waters? God is killing people because we have killed babies? I hope I don't need to explain the insanity and confusion of that contradiction.
So, Senator Obama's pastor has declared that America did not "blink" when we decided to bomb Japan. Hmmmmmmm....no bible scholar needed for that ignorance of history. President Truman agonized over the stark reality that a land invasion of Japan would likely cost a million lives, many of whom would be civilian. Japan made it abundantly clear that surrender was not an option. At Iwo Jima, our first invasion of Japanese territory, their strategy was to spill as much blood, in as gruesome a manner as possible so that an invasion of their mainland would be considered out of the question. On that small island, human loss on both sides in just a matter of weeks, was three times what we have suffered in Iraq in 5 years. I think Truman's decision was at least a well documented historic "blink".
**(March 29th correction: deaths on both sides of the battle for Iwo Jima were actually higher than my first recollection noted above. Total battle deaths in the approximate 10 weeks of fighting for this tiny island were 27,000! Over 20,000 Japanese soldiers died and 6800 American Marines died in just 8 to 10 weeks. Think about it; we've lost 4000 troops in Iraq in 5 years. Back then we lost 6800 men in a little more than 2 months, and that was considered a victory).**
More concerning to me than that, however, is that Senator Obama's pastor said, "God bless America? No, God d___ America" Why? For our racial sins. (Note: the concept of putting God at the prefix of the "d" word in print is just not in me...I know, I thought it and you probably thought it, but I just can't bring myself to PRINT it).
Again I say, hmmmmmmmmmmm. As evil as racism is, God is no longer in the business of damning anyone, anywhere for any reason. Isaiah 53:11 says that our Father has placed upon His Son the evil of us all, and HE IS SATISFIED.
It is amazing to me how stuck in the Old Testament we are in our need for God to be mad. Especially when we want Him to be mad at stuff we are mad about. The problem is, Jesus fulfilled the demand for Old Testament judgment, fulfilled the law and the prophets AND satisfied God so that now....brace yourselves....this is going to get deep.....
God so loved the world that He sent His only Son...NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, but that the world should be saved. This is in an obscure little passage in John 3. Much read and seldom embraced especially when we need God to be mad at someone we don't like. Some TV preachers did not like some folks in New Orleans and a hurricane filled their need for God to look just like them and judge.
As much as we might not like certain behaviors it is illegal to create God in our own image to validate our own bias. God has been forever beautifully painted in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Pastor Bill Johnson of Redding California says, "Only Jesus is perfect theology". Did Jesus ever send a storm on anyone? Did Jesus have a single "damn" in His vocabulary for Rome?
No....but He did have a few, "woes" for strict, uptight, judgmental religious bigots. Why a woe? Woe be to those who distort the image of the Father and frighten sinners away from the possibility of discovering that God is ONLY good.
One last note: Senator Obama has said he did not know his pastor had said these things. If someone who has been one of my sheep for 20 years did not know me any better than that, I would be disappointed, regardless of whether they could quote me word for word or not. But, I will hand to Senator Obama on another note: he refused to disconnect himself from his pastor, agree or disagree. I like that kind of loyality.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Grandbaby #2!
Ginger and I are proud grandparents of yet another perfect child. Libby and Darren had a second little girl last Friday. Her name is Ayla Ghisette. Ayla is an Irish Celtic derivative of my mother's name, Helen. So, since Ayla also has the look of a Native American baby (my mother's heritage) and since my dad was Irish, this child already owns a wonderful place in my heart! For pictures, check out www.myspace.com/pastorrandydean .
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The Resurrection Revolution
Matthew 5:38-48 is a mystery passage of epic proportions. Is Jesus suggesting that His followers become perpetual victims incapable of feeling pain? Or, as is His usual mode of instruction, is He pressing us to a higher dimension of Kingdom understanding?
In the middle of all the slapping, suing, slandering mess of modern culture, Jesus has called out for a new kind of human race. So determined is He to have this become a reality, He became the Seed planted in the earth for a birth of a Resurrection Race, a Resurrection Insurrection and a Resurrection Revolution.
His own trial, torture and death penalty became this Message: all forms of insult, offense, abuse, mockery, robbery, injustice, malfeasance, maltreatment, malpractice, malfunction, violation, injury, trauma, and any all effects of any and all wrongdoing are now subject to the Resurrection Revolution! Jesus not only turned His cheek, He supplied every square inch of His body to fully provide a new kind of life for us.
New creation is formed for response to God, not reaction to life. The first breath taken by Adam and Eve was response to God; their eyes flew open and the life’s initiation was full in the face of God. When the last Adam, Christ laid in the tomb, the same breath of God passed through solid rock and, by the Spirit blasted the same life giving air into every molecule of Jesus’ tortured body. From there forward, everything we hope to be is found in response to Him and His Face looking full into ours.
The Revolution has begun; not in clean and pretty church services, but in bloodied streets of sacrificial love. This Revolution crushes the opposition by means of the opposition’s own strength ~ death, in any and all of its hideous forms. Resurrection is an insurrection irrepressible in this world of revenge. It shouts that transcendent love is the final strategy of the Kingdom of God and the greatest unused power of the Church.
In the middle of all the slapping, suing, slandering mess of modern culture, Jesus has called out for a new kind of human race. So determined is He to have this become a reality, He became the Seed planted in the earth for a birth of a Resurrection Race, a Resurrection Insurrection and a Resurrection Revolution.
His own trial, torture and death penalty became this Message: all forms of insult, offense, abuse, mockery, robbery, injustice, malfeasance, maltreatment, malpractice, malfunction, violation, injury, trauma, and any all effects of any and all wrongdoing are now subject to the Resurrection Revolution! Jesus not only turned His cheek, He supplied every square inch of His body to fully provide a new kind of life for us.
New creation is formed for response to God, not reaction to life. The first breath taken by Adam and Eve was response to God; their eyes flew open and the life’s initiation was full in the face of God. When the last Adam, Christ laid in the tomb, the same breath of God passed through solid rock and, by the Spirit blasted the same life giving air into every molecule of Jesus’ tortured body. From there forward, everything we hope to be is found in response to Him and His Face looking full into ours.
The Revolution has begun; not in clean and pretty church services, but in bloodied streets of sacrificial love. This Revolution crushes the opposition by means of the opposition’s own strength ~ death, in any and all of its hideous forms. Resurrection is an insurrection irrepressible in this world of revenge. It shouts that transcendent love is the final strategy of the Kingdom of God and the greatest unused power of the Church.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Cheeks and Miles to Spare
I am bowed to a transcendent supremacy. The Kingdom of God is within me and profoundly above me. The life I've discovered in this other world has transformed every layer of my existence.
The sting of your hand on my cheek will not determine the priorities of my life. It will not determine my “feelings”. In fact, it may so ignite me in seeing Jesus standing at the right Hand of God that I may turn the other cheek for more inspiration. A slap potentially leads me beyond myself.
We are created for response to God, not reaction to life. The first breath taken by Adam and Eve was response to God. Their eyes flew open and the life's initiation was full in the Face of God. From there forward, everything we hope to be must be found in response to Him and His Face looking into ours.
If I am sued and I live in the Kingdom, I respond to God alone and not in a reaction to the court action. If I am bowed to the transcendent supremacy of my King and the law of the land demands an unfair mile out of me, I'll reach into the energy of Heaven and give a second mile out my supernatural resources. If my life is lived with the breathing of My Father giving me vitality and energy then no matter what injustice pukes at my feet, it will fail to distract me from my response to Heaven's Face.
Jesus' immortal and sometimes maddening Words in Matthew 5 (turn the other cheek, etc.) come to life for me when I conclude them, as He did, with, "You are to be perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect." He lives ABOVE it all and I have the massive privilege to join Him in living ABOVE it all, even if blood is dripping off my chin.
Have you ever read John 3 before and beyond verse 16? In verse 13 Jesus said, and this is the RDV (Randy Dean Version); "No one has successfully to date made the journey back and forth into heaven and back to earth except Me. In fact, as you look at Me now...I'm living in both places simultaneously." Stinkin' cool, is what that is. He wants to show us how to live in both places at once. That's really what being born again is all about...Kingdom "Jumpers".
Remember Deacon Stephen in Acts? As he is on earth, being murdered for his faith, he sees the Perfection of Heaven, with Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Folks, this isn't some weird lifestyle exclusively reserved for people who wear bath robes and sandals. This is supposed to be genuine everyday Christianity.
We aren't being called to live some meager, white-knuckled "niceness". This is an abundant life with cheeks and miles to spare! IF, and I emphasize, IF you live bowed to this transcendent supremacy; The Kingdom of God.(For more inspiration on this topic read Watchman Nee's book, "Not I But Christ", or visit www.lwc1.mypodcast.com)
The sting of your hand on my cheek will not determine the priorities of my life. It will not determine my “feelings”. In fact, it may so ignite me in seeing Jesus standing at the right Hand of God that I may turn the other cheek for more inspiration. A slap potentially leads me beyond myself.
We are created for response to God, not reaction to life. The first breath taken by Adam and Eve was response to God. Their eyes flew open and the life's initiation was full in the Face of God. From there forward, everything we hope to be must be found in response to Him and His Face looking into ours.
If I am sued and I live in the Kingdom, I respond to God alone and not in a reaction to the court action. If I am bowed to the transcendent supremacy of my King and the law of the land demands an unfair mile out of me, I'll reach into the energy of Heaven and give a second mile out my supernatural resources. If my life is lived with the breathing of My Father giving me vitality and energy then no matter what injustice pukes at my feet, it will fail to distract me from my response to Heaven's Face.
Jesus' immortal and sometimes maddening Words in Matthew 5 (turn the other cheek, etc.) come to life for me when I conclude them, as He did, with, "You are to be perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect." He lives ABOVE it all and I have the massive privilege to join Him in living ABOVE it all, even if blood is dripping off my chin.
Have you ever read John 3 before and beyond verse 16? In verse 13 Jesus said, and this is the RDV (Randy Dean Version); "No one has successfully to date made the journey back and forth into heaven and back to earth except Me. In fact, as you look at Me now...I'm living in both places simultaneously." Stinkin' cool, is what that is. He wants to show us how to live in both places at once. That's really what being born again is all about...Kingdom "Jumpers".
Remember Deacon Stephen in Acts? As he is on earth, being murdered for his faith, he sees the Perfection of Heaven, with Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. Folks, this isn't some weird lifestyle exclusively reserved for people who wear bath robes and sandals. This is supposed to be genuine everyday Christianity.
We aren't being called to live some meager, white-knuckled "niceness". This is an abundant life with cheeks and miles to spare! IF, and I emphasize, IF you live bowed to this transcendent supremacy; The Kingdom of God.(For more inspiration on this topic read Watchman Nee's book, "Not I But Christ", or visit www.lwc1.mypodcast.com)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Heads On Chickens Part II
Jesus said, flat out, “Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). While you would like to think that a statement that straight forward is pretty hard to dodge, the fact is that most of us have and do. I’ve sat through more than a few sermons that labored to dumb this down and most of them have left me with the sense that I just have to try harder to be a good boy.
That’s not what Jesus is getting at. Our Father in heaven is not a dysfunctional daddy screaming at us from the sidelines of the game to run faster so he can feel better about his own shortcomings when he was a student athlete. What He IS doing is to invite us to join Him in heavenly places and to live from the prophetic “amen” He enjoys.
Leading up to Jesus’ dare to be perfect, He listed a variety of human conditions which, when left to our own resources, we know how to navigate. You punch me, I punch you. You hate me, I hate you. You mistreat me, I mistreat you. Then when the wind is blowing the ashes of our fighting fire with fire, we cry and ask God to fix the mess. In a sense, He is asking us, “How’s that working for you?”.
But His answer is not to turn us in on ourselves. That’s the problem to start with anyway! He dares us to be risen to heavenly places and to live from the perfection of the Father’s Kingdom of Heaven. Perfect here means to live in and see and know the prophetic conclusion of a matter. To experience the “amen” and the “I AM”.
God is right now living in His Kingdom of Absolute Perfection. The Prophetic Conclusion is already giving Him massive delight. He lives in that quality and He would like for us to join Him. To live any other way is to live out of the scraps of our own resources.
This is why we should not pray the problems but prophesy the solutions. This is why He taught us to pray, “THY Kingdom COME, THY WILL be DONE on earth, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”. We pray from heaven TO earth so that our view is PERFECT. Otherwise we are telling God about how we’ve been lied on, cheated on, beat on, hated on, country songed on, bluesed on, hipped hopped on, and just generally rocked on by bad people.
I don’t know how to put this gently, so I’ll say it in the full context of Matthew 5:38-48 and the Words of Jesus; do you just want to cry and whine about your real and imagined injustices or would you like to live the highest quality of life available to humankind and delight yourself in a banquet table set in the presence of your enemies?
Heads ON or heads OFF, chicken little?
That’s not what Jesus is getting at. Our Father in heaven is not a dysfunctional daddy screaming at us from the sidelines of the game to run faster so he can feel better about his own shortcomings when he was a student athlete. What He IS doing is to invite us to join Him in heavenly places and to live from the prophetic “amen” He enjoys.
Leading up to Jesus’ dare to be perfect, He listed a variety of human conditions which, when left to our own resources, we know how to navigate. You punch me, I punch you. You hate me, I hate you. You mistreat me, I mistreat you. Then when the wind is blowing the ashes of our fighting fire with fire, we cry and ask God to fix the mess. In a sense, He is asking us, “How’s that working for you?”.
But His answer is not to turn us in on ourselves. That’s the problem to start with anyway! He dares us to be risen to heavenly places and to live from the perfection of the Father’s Kingdom of Heaven. Perfect here means to live in and see and know the prophetic conclusion of a matter. To experience the “amen” and the “I AM”.
God is right now living in His Kingdom of Absolute Perfection. The Prophetic Conclusion is already giving Him massive delight. He lives in that quality and He would like for us to join Him. To live any other way is to live out of the scraps of our own resources.
This is why we should not pray the problems but prophesy the solutions. This is why He taught us to pray, “THY Kingdom COME, THY WILL be DONE on earth, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”. We pray from heaven TO earth so that our view is PERFECT. Otherwise we are telling God about how we’ve been lied on, cheated on, beat on, hated on, country songed on, bluesed on, hipped hopped on, and just generally rocked on by bad people.
I don’t know how to put this gently, so I’ll say it in the full context of Matthew 5:38-48 and the Words of Jesus; do you just want to cry and whine about your real and imagined injustices or would you like to live the highest quality of life available to humankind and delight yourself in a banquet table set in the presence of your enemies?
Heads ON or heads OFF, chicken little?
Monday, February 25, 2008
Like Chickens With Their Heads ON
My 7th grade Literature teacher, Miss Ross, made me memorize Rudyard Kipling's poem, "IF" and I fumed. Like most 7th graders I had no clue what this stupid assignment had to do with "real life". The opening line says, "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...".
I love this poem now. It only took 40 years of real life to learn to appreciate it. In fact I started a new series of messages with the deeply insightful title, "Chickens with their heads ON" inspired, in part, by Miss Ross and Mr. Kipling. (Don't forget the free podcasts a our church web site; www.lwc1.com).
Jesus gave an unblinking outrageous charge when He said, "Therefore, you are to be perfect, as Your Heavenly Father is perfect". My version of this is, "Hey,all you chickens in the barnyard! How's this 'running around like chickens with your heads cut off' working for you? Try this; while the axe is swinging, you be the chicken who keeps his head ON. You'll stand head and shoulders above the crowd".
Read Matthew 5:38-48 with some serious reflection and meditation. Jesus is shouting into the empty cavern of Jewish religious hard heartedness that wants to give Rome some lessons on morality. Yes, I know we are all different now. Instead of the empty cavern of Jewish hard heartedness now it the empty cavern of Christian hard heartedness. It's totally different...now that we've put the Name of Jesus on our sin.
Jesus came to lead the world into the greatest Spiritual Revolution and its potential is so vast, deep and wide that it still has not reached its possibilities. How vast? PERFECTION IS ITS ONLY STANDARD. And not just any perfection, but Heavenly Perfection. Not the perfection we are vainly waiting to be granted IN heaven when we get there, but a nitty gritty, punch me in the face on earth and you'll get a blast of heaven's perfect Father living in me.
Alanis Morrisset wrote the song, "Perfect" some years ago that gives a contrast to what I am NOT saying here; "Be a good boy, try a little harder. You've got to measure up and make me prouder...be a good girl, you've gotta try a little harder. That simply wasn't good enough to make us proud. I'll live through you. I'll make you what I never was...". Our Father's perfection is not this sick version. His perfection is the substance of His Heavenly Kingdom Life and the quality of His transcendent supremacy which He longs to generously pour into us when we decide that "trying harder to be good boys and girls" is vain at best, and self-righteous at worst.
The greek word for perfect is, "teleios" and it means completeness, the conclusion of an act or state of being, the end prophetic result. God lives in His own conclusions, He is in a constant state of the prophetic AMEN. There are no lose ends, no unresolved conflicts, no injustices left to right, no matters left for discussion, no unanswered questions, no incomplete statements, nothing left hanging "out there", nothing to discuss and nothing unfinished....HE LIVES IN THAT HIGH LEVEL OF THE QUALITY OF HIS OWN LIFE.....where do we live?
Jesus did not write a new law to be performed in a dead state of religious routine. He is baiting humanity out of a low life existence dependant on our own discipline to be "good" and into the highest dimension of The Life, radically immersed in Heaven's irreplacable energy and love. In fact, in Matthew 5:45 He says this is the only path to becoming the sons and daughters of God.
When the book of Ephesians says that we are seated in Heavenly Places in Christ, it is not an invitation to "feel" good about the symbolism of being "saved". It's a transcending reality for the Believer to be "other" than the chickens running around the barnyard separated from their heads! God's Perfection is The Quality of His Kingdom being offered for those who those who hunger for Life that looks, smells, talks, walks and IS the Life of Jesus Christ invested, FOR REAL, in us. Smash me in the face and the Life of the Spirit pours out of me and the blood on your knuckles is God's blood. Sue me, curse me, use me under false pretences and God gets bigger through me. Hate me and the Love of God grows in me and through me.
This is the Revolution of Jesus and this is the hour for the world to see the true face of God in sons and daughters of the Revolution.
I love this poem now. It only took 40 years of real life to learn to appreciate it. In fact I started a new series of messages with the deeply insightful title, "Chickens with their heads ON" inspired, in part, by Miss Ross and Mr. Kipling. (Don't forget the free podcasts a our church web site; www.lwc1.com).
Jesus gave an unblinking outrageous charge when He said, "Therefore, you are to be perfect, as Your Heavenly Father is perfect". My version of this is, "Hey,all you chickens in the barnyard! How's this 'running around like chickens with your heads cut off' working for you? Try this; while the axe is swinging, you be the chicken who keeps his head ON. You'll stand head and shoulders above the crowd".
Read Matthew 5:38-48 with some serious reflection and meditation. Jesus is shouting into the empty cavern of Jewish religious hard heartedness that wants to give Rome some lessons on morality. Yes, I know we are all different now. Instead of the empty cavern of Jewish hard heartedness now it the empty cavern of Christian hard heartedness. It's totally different...now that we've put the Name of Jesus on our sin.
Jesus came to lead the world into the greatest Spiritual Revolution and its potential is so vast, deep and wide that it still has not reached its possibilities. How vast? PERFECTION IS ITS ONLY STANDARD. And not just any perfection, but Heavenly Perfection. Not the perfection we are vainly waiting to be granted IN heaven when we get there, but a nitty gritty, punch me in the face on earth and you'll get a blast of heaven's perfect Father living in me.
Alanis Morrisset wrote the song, "Perfect" some years ago that gives a contrast to what I am NOT saying here; "Be a good boy, try a little harder. You've got to measure up and make me prouder...be a good girl, you've gotta try a little harder. That simply wasn't good enough to make us proud. I'll live through you. I'll make you what I never was...". Our Father's perfection is not this sick version. His perfection is the substance of His Heavenly Kingdom Life and the quality of His transcendent supremacy which He longs to generously pour into us when we decide that "trying harder to be good boys and girls" is vain at best, and self-righteous at worst.
The greek word for perfect is, "teleios" and it means completeness, the conclusion of an act or state of being, the end prophetic result. God lives in His own conclusions, He is in a constant state of the prophetic AMEN. There are no lose ends, no unresolved conflicts, no injustices left to right, no matters left for discussion, no unanswered questions, no incomplete statements, nothing left hanging "out there", nothing to discuss and nothing unfinished....HE LIVES IN THAT HIGH LEVEL OF THE QUALITY OF HIS OWN LIFE.....where do we live?
Jesus did not write a new law to be performed in a dead state of religious routine. He is baiting humanity out of a low life existence dependant on our own discipline to be "good" and into the highest dimension of The Life, radically immersed in Heaven's irreplacable energy and love. In fact, in Matthew 5:45 He says this is the only path to becoming the sons and daughters of God.
When the book of Ephesians says that we are seated in Heavenly Places in Christ, it is not an invitation to "feel" good about the symbolism of being "saved". It's a transcending reality for the Believer to be "other" than the chickens running around the barnyard separated from their heads! God's Perfection is The Quality of His Kingdom being offered for those who those who hunger for Life that looks, smells, talks, walks and IS the Life of Jesus Christ invested, FOR REAL, in us. Smash me in the face and the Life of the Spirit pours out of me and the blood on your knuckles is God's blood. Sue me, curse me, use me under false pretences and God gets bigger through me. Hate me and the Love of God grows in me and through me.
This is the Revolution of Jesus and this is the hour for the world to see the true face of God in sons and daughters of the Revolution.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Lit and Lovin' It
I just arrived back home from a 10 day trip to Valles, Mexico. Valles is a true to the soul of Mexico city of about 400,000 8 hours drive south of the border. A family from our church has been down there for 22 years and I visit them annually.
Missions trips aren't supposed to be this much fun. Oh, we worked, that's for sure. There was the standard stuff we do every year of working on the church building (you can see the building by going to our church web site www.lwc1.com and click on the mission's link), but this year we added a new feature which I hope will be a standard for the years to come. Darren, my son in law and assistant pastor, and I went down a few days ahead of our team to conduct a pastor's conference in a village just east of Valles. Then, after that 2 and half day conference we conducted a leadership conference with the 30 key leaders of the 2 city churches.
When you count the one 5 hour session I held at the city churches along with the evening services after the pastor's conference, I had the privilege of preaching and teaching 13 times in 6 days. That does not include the mandatory follow up altar prayer services that these precious people insist on having. I think I counted prophesying and specifically praying with over 200 people. But I kid you not, I have not had that much fun in a very long time. Like I said, mission's trips are not supposed to be this much fun….I almost feel guilty….almost, but…..there……now I'm over it.
A couple times out in the village a demon possessed couple showed up to disrupt the services. Weird stuff, but Darren and I compared notes on how God through His Kingdom in us just overwhelmed the darkness. This couple was not interested in any freedom at that time, but regardless, the freak show they wanted to bring with them was sent packing.
I don't have the time or space here to relate everything that happened but I want to leave one significant thought with you. In Psalms 16:11 and 36:8 we are told that God's presence, right hand and His river are places of joy, pleasure, delights and life. This past 2 weeks of grueling schedule, Mexican highways and mountain trails has reminded me that I can serve Him out of a limitless bounty if I keep myself in the deep end of the Presence Pool of God the Father, Jesus my King/Friend and the Great Adventurer, the Holy Spirit.
I'm lit and lovin' it; what's next?
Missions trips aren't supposed to be this much fun. Oh, we worked, that's for sure. There was the standard stuff we do every year of working on the church building (you can see the building by going to our church web site www.lwc1.com and click on the mission's link), but this year we added a new feature which I hope will be a standard for the years to come. Darren, my son in law and assistant pastor, and I went down a few days ahead of our team to conduct a pastor's conference in a village just east of Valles. Then, after that 2 and half day conference we conducted a leadership conference with the 30 key leaders of the 2 city churches.
When you count the one 5 hour session I held at the city churches along with the evening services after the pastor's conference, I had the privilege of preaching and teaching 13 times in 6 days. That does not include the mandatory follow up altar prayer services that these precious people insist on having. I think I counted prophesying and specifically praying with over 200 people. But I kid you not, I have not had that much fun in a very long time. Like I said, mission's trips are not supposed to be this much fun….I almost feel guilty….almost, but…..there……now I'm over it.
A couple times out in the village a demon possessed couple showed up to disrupt the services. Weird stuff, but Darren and I compared notes on how God through His Kingdom in us just overwhelmed the darkness. This couple was not interested in any freedom at that time, but regardless, the freak show they wanted to bring with them was sent packing.
I don't have the time or space here to relate everything that happened but I want to leave one significant thought with you. In Psalms 16:11 and 36:8 we are told that God's presence, right hand and His river are places of joy, pleasure, delights and life. This past 2 weeks of grueling schedule, Mexican highways and mountain trails has reminded me that I can serve Him out of a limitless bounty if I keep myself in the deep end of the Presence Pool of God the Father, Jesus my King/Friend and the Great Adventurer, the Holy Spirit.
I'm lit and lovin' it; what's next?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Senator Barack Obama's Church
I just got one of those mass emails that, in essence, says, "Be afraid! Barack Obama is a front for an evil sinister conspiracy, etc, etc, etc." I have probably made a mistake in answering it, but it came to my church and several people in my church, so I took the chance....I can feel my email box bloating even as I speak. If you are not familiar with this current attempt to scare people with almost, but not quite nearly, half truths, go to www.truthorfiction.com. and you'll find the basis for this misery. Anyway, I thought I should expand my potential to offend by including these thoughts in my blog.....enjoy, throw stones, or...whatever.
I have thought and re-thought whether or not I should respond to this.....I will respond and then I might regret it.....but I will take the chance because I want sanity, fair-mindedness and the truly Good News of the Kingdom of God to win over fear and half truths. The church needs an extreme makeover and get rid of its harsh, angry, finger-pointing attitude. Let each one examine his or her own work and then they will have reason for boasting in regard to themselves alone, and not in regard to another (Gal.6:4).
To start with, go to www.truthorfiction.com and read their take on this email about Senator Obama's church. It's quoted word for word and they address the truth and the fiction involved.
Next, how is a church committed to Africa any different than the Swedish Lutherans, the German Lutherans, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Korean Methodist Church, the various Latino denominations, or even the ROMAN Catholic Church? Don't misunderstand my question here....I believe that any racial dividing of the Body of Christ is unhealthy. Someone once said that the most segregated hour in America is Sunday morning church services...and that's wrong. But its far from some sinister conspiracy...its just ignorant.
There are thousands of church web sites that might not give a specific reference to America...that's no reason for panic or fear mongering or suggesting that something evil is lurking behind it. To pin Senator Obama into a corner because his church does not mention America on its web site is totally outrageous. Disagree with his politics all you want to! But don't bring arguments like this into the public debate because it only makes Christianity look bad.
I don't agree with Senator Obama's politics. I don't think he is qualified to be president. If I was on a hiring committee to interview people who were applying for the job, I would look at his resume and say, "Come back another time when we can see some experience". I wouldn't hire a contractor to build a new house who had a couple years of on the job experience and I won't hire a leader of the free world who is not tested and proven. But this matter of promoting fear and half-truths is just wrong. Stick with proven facts or we, the voting public are no better than the politicians who take out "attack ads" just to wipe mud on the face of an opponent.
Lastly, note that I have consistently referred to the senator as Senator Obama. When American Christians put a stop to their participation in the current culture of dishonor, we will finally find our voice and begin a new day of being respected. We all reap what we sow. We all are involved in the "golden rule", which is the Word of Christ; doing to others as we would have them do unto us....I wonder if our outcry of being mistreated by the "media" is in some way due to the disrespect we distribute to the wide world around us.When Peter said, (I Peter 2:17)"Honor the King" there wasn't a single Christian king on the planet. In fact, many were monsters. So, why should we give honor in that climate? Because if we ever hope to be salt and light in our world, if we ever want honor for our name, and greater yet, for the Name of Jesus, we must lead the way of sowing honor even in soil we don't like.
Jesus said, (don't blithely skip over these words. He taught them in a politically charged atmosphere that celebrated the hatred of political enemies with religious fervor)"You have heard it said,'love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers (and political parties) do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
That's right, PERFECT. That's how high the bar is for us. If you want to be like the run of the mill, mean spirited, mud slinging, angry political landscape around you, just keep doing what everyone does. But if you want something better, something more like the Face of Christ, reach for the perfection of the Father.
Impossible you say? All things are possible to those who believe......Pastor Randy Dean
I have thought and re-thought whether or not I should respond to this.....I will respond and then I might regret it.....but I will take the chance because I want sanity, fair-mindedness and the truly Good News of the Kingdom of God to win over fear and half truths. The church needs an extreme makeover and get rid of its harsh, angry, finger-pointing attitude. Let each one examine his or her own work and then they will have reason for boasting in regard to themselves alone, and not in regard to another (Gal.6:4).
To start with, go to www.truthorfiction.com and read their take on this email about Senator Obama's church. It's quoted word for word and they address the truth and the fiction involved.
Next, how is a church committed to Africa any different than the Swedish Lutherans, the German Lutherans, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Korean Methodist Church, the various Latino denominations, or even the ROMAN Catholic Church? Don't misunderstand my question here....I believe that any racial dividing of the Body of Christ is unhealthy. Someone once said that the most segregated hour in America is Sunday morning church services...and that's wrong. But its far from some sinister conspiracy...its just ignorant.
There are thousands of church web sites that might not give a specific reference to America...that's no reason for panic or fear mongering or suggesting that something evil is lurking behind it. To pin Senator Obama into a corner because his church does not mention America on its web site is totally outrageous. Disagree with his politics all you want to! But don't bring arguments like this into the public debate because it only makes Christianity look bad.
I don't agree with Senator Obama's politics. I don't think he is qualified to be president. If I was on a hiring committee to interview people who were applying for the job, I would look at his resume and say, "Come back another time when we can see some experience". I wouldn't hire a contractor to build a new house who had a couple years of on the job experience and I won't hire a leader of the free world who is not tested and proven. But this matter of promoting fear and half-truths is just wrong. Stick with proven facts or we, the voting public are no better than the politicians who take out "attack ads" just to wipe mud on the face of an opponent.
Lastly, note that I have consistently referred to the senator as Senator Obama. When American Christians put a stop to their participation in the current culture of dishonor, we will finally find our voice and begin a new day of being respected. We all reap what we sow. We all are involved in the "golden rule", which is the Word of Christ; doing to others as we would have them do unto us....I wonder if our outcry of being mistreated by the "media" is in some way due to the disrespect we distribute to the wide world around us.When Peter said, (I Peter 2:17)"Honor the King" there wasn't a single Christian king on the planet. In fact, many were monsters. So, why should we give honor in that climate? Because if we ever hope to be salt and light in our world, if we ever want honor for our name, and greater yet, for the Name of Jesus, we must lead the way of sowing honor even in soil we don't like.
Jesus said, (don't blithely skip over these words. He taught them in a politically charged atmosphere that celebrated the hatred of political enemies with religious fervor)"You have heard it said,'love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers (and political parties) do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
That's right, PERFECT. That's how high the bar is for us. If you want to be like the run of the mill, mean spirited, mud slinging, angry political landscape around you, just keep doing what everyone does. But if you want something better, something more like the Face of Christ, reach for the perfection of the Father.
Impossible you say? All things are possible to those who believe......Pastor Randy Dean
Friday, January 11, 2008
"Win for the Lamb..."
"All things are possible to those who believe..." (Mark 9:23) means to me that God is looking for a community and a culture of believers who intentionally take on impossibilities with a warrior's heart to, "win for the Lamb that was slain the reward for His sufferings" (the Moravians).
I'd rather fail in the attempt of the miraculous than to succeed at mediocrity.
ALL THINGS for Him, ~prd~
I'd rather fail in the attempt of the miraculous than to succeed at mediocrity.
ALL THINGS for Him, ~prd~
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
IF and THEN...
If it is January in Wisconsin…then…
With a few rare exceptions the phrase above is easy to conclude. I’d like to take you down a similar path based on the Words of Jesus from Mark 9:23; “All things are possible to him who believes”.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then those of us who believe must never again allow ourselves to be fatalism’s slave. Fatalism is the belief that all the events of life are staged and determined by fate and therefore inevitable. I won’t drag you through the details of how this is the root and substance of a loud segment of the church’s doctrinal view of the “end times”. What I WILL tell you is that fatalism has enslaved too many of us for too long! It has trapped “believers” in a stymied posture of watching the world around us throw itself into fires and deep dark waters to destroy itself, just like the little boy in the story that is wrapped around Jesus’ Words in Mark 9.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then the church should be a culture, a community and a system of transcendent supernatural creativity. We have at our disposal the Genius of the Universe. For all of our bluster about “intelligent design versus evolution” you would think that we would be eager to fully demonstrate God’s resourcefulness. If we want to be taken seriously about intelligent design then we had better take a dive into the deep end of the Presence of God and come up like a water fountain of glorious goodness. This deserves far more elucidation but I better save some of my good stuff for my book.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then our minds and hearts must be washed of the culture of complaint we are surrounded by and be fed instead with “great and mighty things which (we) do not know” (Jeremiah 33:1-3). I don’t remember who it was who coined the phrase “culture of complaint” but whoever it was, nailed it. “I complain, therefore, I am” is an American mantra. But God is baiting us upward with Jeremiah’s promise, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
There is Something in the Heavens that we don’t know and it is pregnant with “All things are possible to those who believe”. God is feeling pretty good about Himself. Secure, at rest, pleased and satisfied. Isaiah said that God looked at the sacrifice of Christ and He was “satisfied”. From that point forward, “all things are possible to those who believe”. There is Something in the Heavens that is more Good News than all the bad news combined.
One last thought; Prayer is learning the lifestyle of being bowed to the conditions of heaven so that I become an agent of spreading heaven’s conditions on earth. In the story of Mark 9 Jesus concluded the matter by declaring that such challenges do not end without prayer. The greek word for prayer He used refers to being “bowed”. Let me ask you: What has you bowed down today? Are you bowed to impossibilities? Or, are you bowed down to God with Whom, all things are possible?
Whatever has you bowed, that is your god.
With a few rare exceptions the phrase above is easy to conclude. I’d like to take you down a similar path based on the Words of Jesus from Mark 9:23; “All things are possible to him who believes”.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then those of us who believe must never again allow ourselves to be fatalism’s slave. Fatalism is the belief that all the events of life are staged and determined by fate and therefore inevitable. I won’t drag you through the details of how this is the root and substance of a loud segment of the church’s doctrinal view of the “end times”. What I WILL tell you is that fatalism has enslaved too many of us for too long! It has trapped “believers” in a stymied posture of watching the world around us throw itself into fires and deep dark waters to destroy itself, just like the little boy in the story that is wrapped around Jesus’ Words in Mark 9.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then the church should be a culture, a community and a system of transcendent supernatural creativity. We have at our disposal the Genius of the Universe. For all of our bluster about “intelligent design versus evolution” you would think that we would be eager to fully demonstrate God’s resourcefulness. If we want to be taken seriously about intelligent design then we had better take a dive into the deep end of the Presence of God and come up like a water fountain of glorious goodness. This deserves far more elucidation but I better save some of my good stuff for my book.
If all things are possible to those who believe, then our minds and hearts must be washed of the culture of complaint we are surrounded by and be fed instead with “great and mighty things which (we) do not know” (Jeremiah 33:1-3). I don’t remember who it was who coined the phrase “culture of complaint” but whoever it was, nailed it. “I complain, therefore, I am” is an American mantra. But God is baiting us upward with Jeremiah’s promise, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
There is Something in the Heavens that we don’t know and it is pregnant with “All things are possible to those who believe”. God is feeling pretty good about Himself. Secure, at rest, pleased and satisfied. Isaiah said that God looked at the sacrifice of Christ and He was “satisfied”. From that point forward, “all things are possible to those who believe”. There is Something in the Heavens that is more Good News than all the bad news combined.
One last thought; Prayer is learning the lifestyle of being bowed to the conditions of heaven so that I become an agent of spreading heaven’s conditions on earth. In the story of Mark 9 Jesus concluded the matter by declaring that such challenges do not end without prayer. The greek word for prayer He used refers to being “bowed”. Let me ask you: What has you bowed down today? Are you bowed to impossibilities? Or, are you bowed down to God with Whom, all things are possible?
Whatever has you bowed, that is your god.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
A Heavenly Knighthood
One of the great classic scriptures describing the Christmas story is found in Luke 2:8-20. The problem with such passages is that they take on such a legendary and mythical status that they can cease to be present day truth that can kick our butts out of bed and light fires of destiny. Let’s spend a few moments and challenge that notion…
Angels catch shepherds in the graveyard shift and stun them with a rock opera blast in the heavens. The original language strikes a chord in me on several levels here; “…the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them and they were terribly frightened”. “Frightened” in the “check your shorts” category of screaming, “mommy!!!!” Then the town-crier angel attempts to correct the problem he caused by saying, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people. For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ, the Messiah, the Lord!”
This next account has always been a favorite of mine. It has always brought a passionate and vibrant sense of heaven’s dynamic expectation of what God is about to do on earth. I have such a holy ache for us to be like this heavenly blast of excitement; “And suddenly, there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven- a heavenly knighthood- praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace’”
A HEAVENLY KNIGHTHOOD crashed through the night skies. Imagine with me the closing scene of the movie, “Braveheart” where warrior poets run to the battle field with reckless abandonment. A HEAVENLY KNIGHTHOOD ripped the curtain off the threshold between that world and this and in essence said, “God be PRAISED! LOOK OUT earth, here we come with Heaven’s Messiah King in tow. The final invasion begins NOW and everyone who receives this is about to have their world rocked. The earth is about to be repossessed by its rightful Owner and there is no turning back”.
The Christmas story tells me that I will never understand or even begin to appreciate the Second Coming of Christ if I have not become a full partner in and an active participant with the First Coming of Christ. A Heavenly Knighthood preceded His First Coming and they are still here to this day to pick a fight for peace on earth with any interloper or intruder who opposes Christ’s rightful claim to the planet for which He died.
His Second Coming will not be announced by the whimper of a Church clutching to our memories of Christmas Past when we could say, “Merry Christmas” without signing petitions. His Glorious Return will be attended by the same Knighthood of Heaven who will be savoring the Marriage of the Messiah King to a Glorious Bride whose brilliance will be comparable to His own. “On earth, peace!” is not just a song to be sung but a war to be won!
Angels catch shepherds in the graveyard shift and stun them with a rock opera blast in the heavens. The original language strikes a chord in me on several levels here; “…the glory of the Lord flashed and shone all about them and they were terribly frightened”. “Frightened” in the “check your shorts” category of screaming, “mommy!!!!” Then the town-crier angel attempts to correct the problem he caused by saying, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all people. For to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ, the Messiah, the Lord!”
This next account has always been a favorite of mine. It has always brought a passionate and vibrant sense of heaven’s dynamic expectation of what God is about to do on earth. I have such a holy ache for us to be like this heavenly blast of excitement; “And suddenly, there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven- a heavenly knighthood- praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace’”
A HEAVENLY KNIGHTHOOD crashed through the night skies. Imagine with me the closing scene of the movie, “Braveheart” where warrior poets run to the battle field with reckless abandonment. A HEAVENLY KNIGHTHOOD ripped the curtain off the threshold between that world and this and in essence said, “God be PRAISED! LOOK OUT earth, here we come with Heaven’s Messiah King in tow. The final invasion begins NOW and everyone who receives this is about to have their world rocked. The earth is about to be repossessed by its rightful Owner and there is no turning back”.
The Christmas story tells me that I will never understand or even begin to appreciate the Second Coming of Christ if I have not become a full partner in and an active participant with the First Coming of Christ. A Heavenly Knighthood preceded His First Coming and they are still here to this day to pick a fight for peace on earth with any interloper or intruder who opposes Christ’s rightful claim to the planet for which He died.
His Second Coming will not be announced by the whimper of a Church clutching to our memories of Christmas Past when we could say, “Merry Christmas” without signing petitions. His Glorious Return will be attended by the same Knighthood of Heaven who will be savoring the Marriage of the Messiah King to a Glorious Bride whose brilliance will be comparable to His own. “On earth, peace!” is not just a song to be sung but a war to be won!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
All Things Are Possible...
(Be forewarned: this blog is longer than usual, but I believe the length is well worth your time)
In Mark 9:23 Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes…”. This is one of those statements that will just sit there, staring at you, daring you to do something with it or just flat out throw it away. No middle ground. Or, I should say, no honest middle ground.
What I mean by honest middle ground is the found in the context of this outrageous statement. The story goes like this; a desperate father brings his demonized son to the disciples for help. We aren’t told what they did, just that whatever they did, did nothing. (Sound painfully familiar?) It is clear that they tried because the man said, “…they could not do it…”. Another thing that is clear is that the man at first says that he brought his son to Jesus, and then later clarifies that he really brought the boy to the disciples. This isn’t a contradiction but rather a striking clarification; when we are impotent, observers will account that to Jesus and that absolutely, positively must NOT be OK with us for it brings dishonor to His fully honorable Name.
Jesus underscores this point by sharply rebuking His boys: “How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” The phrase “put up with” has a meaning akin to fierce restraint; not just an average case of patience. When they bring the boy to Jesus, the demon acts out in convulsive self-destructive violence. Later in the account the father warns that this behavior has thrown the child into fires and water to destroy him. You know what I mean when I say, “Somebody call 911!”?
Then Jesus does something that we all need to think about: He calmly asks, “How long has this been happening to him?” Are you paying attention? Jesus, Son of God, able to read thoughts and unlock the secrets of our hearts seems to want information unavailable to Him. Or is there something deeper going on?
Can you see this in your mind’s eye? The disciples are toeing the ground, embarrassed and maybe trying to think of something spiritual to say. Like, “It’s not about us anyway, right Jesus? We tried but You must increase, we must decrease. After all, this way You will truly get the credit…right Jesus? Uh, Jesus…shouldn’t You hurry up and do something? This is getting messy…Yo, Jesus, do You see the campfire right behind us? Oh yikes! This crowd is getting huge. Tick-tock, Jesus….Wait a minute…hey Peter….maybe Jesus isn’t going to do anything about this. Yea, that’s it! Jesus just wants us to know that this is a life-long struggle for this family.”
As the pregnant pause reaches a crowning, painful birthing point, Jesus does not yet push when the father begs, “If You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” Then, when the tension has reached an unbearable crest, Jesus answers, “If You can?” Now bear with my imagination again as we turn back to the disciples; Jesus might have said, “I don’t know…what do you guys think? Can I?” I believe that every second of pause in this discourse is for the sake of driving home a life long lesson in the 12.
“All things are possible to him who believes.” And while this should be the battle cry of the church, we have all too often defaulted to the next words; the despondent cry of the father, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Please hear me; I have been as given to this as anyone reading this, but I am pleading with you and myself to pull ourselves upward for the prize of the call of God in Christ Jesus; “All things are possible to him who believes.” Where would you rather live the rest of your life?
The conclusion of this account is that Jesus commands the spirit to leave and in an instant the boy is so still he seems dead. (Side note: some of the crowd must have thought that Jesus killed the kid because of the way Mark records it; “most of them said, ‘he is dead!’”) When the disciples finally get some privacy (which I’m sure was none too soon for them) they asked Jesus why they could do nothing. Listen to me; WE NEED TO BE ASKING THE SAME QUESTION!!
Last summer I posted a blog that asks, “How dare we be powerless?” The world we live in is serving up thousands of opportunities every day for the Kingdom of God to demonstrate the absolute goodness of God. But we keep looking for spiritual sounding words instead of paying heed to the answer Jesus gave 2000 years ago in this prophetic story; “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Notice, Jesus never prayed over this boy!! He was not saying that when we really learn how to pray about problems they will leave. He is saying that when we learn to be people who live and breath in prayer, unceasingly, we will have a bank vault full of the intimacy and reality of God that will catapult every dark thing that comes anywhere near our sphere of influence.
The humbling of the 12 in this story is ours too. But the difference is, they didn’t have the convenience of the pages I just used to teach the principles of the Kingdom. They had a matter of months to learn what we have had a matter of centuries to absorb. If Jesus felt “fierce restraint” then, what must He feel today?
Here’s my passionate cry on His behalf; arise and slay the unbelief holding you back! Every time you hear yourself being the victimized father in this story instead of being the fully discipled son or daughter of God, do whatever you must do to run to the manifest Presence of God and pray. And when you pray, do not pray the problem! Prophesy the solution of the Body of Christ becoming the abiding Temple of the Holy Spirit through prayer….and then…..
ABIDE THERE UNTIL YOU RADIATE HIM.
In Mark 9:23 Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes…”. This is one of those statements that will just sit there, staring at you, daring you to do something with it or just flat out throw it away. No middle ground. Or, I should say, no honest middle ground.
What I mean by honest middle ground is the found in the context of this outrageous statement. The story goes like this; a desperate father brings his demonized son to the disciples for help. We aren’t told what they did, just that whatever they did, did nothing. (Sound painfully familiar?) It is clear that they tried because the man said, “…they could not do it…”. Another thing that is clear is that the man at first says that he brought his son to Jesus, and then later clarifies that he really brought the boy to the disciples. This isn’t a contradiction but rather a striking clarification; when we are impotent, observers will account that to Jesus and that absolutely, positively must NOT be OK with us for it brings dishonor to His fully honorable Name.
Jesus underscores this point by sharply rebuking His boys: “How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” The phrase “put up with” has a meaning akin to fierce restraint; not just an average case of patience. When they bring the boy to Jesus, the demon acts out in convulsive self-destructive violence. Later in the account the father warns that this behavior has thrown the child into fires and water to destroy him. You know what I mean when I say, “Somebody call 911!”?
Then Jesus does something that we all need to think about: He calmly asks, “How long has this been happening to him?” Are you paying attention? Jesus, Son of God, able to read thoughts and unlock the secrets of our hearts seems to want information unavailable to Him. Or is there something deeper going on?
Can you see this in your mind’s eye? The disciples are toeing the ground, embarrassed and maybe trying to think of something spiritual to say. Like, “It’s not about us anyway, right Jesus? We tried but You must increase, we must decrease. After all, this way You will truly get the credit…right Jesus? Uh, Jesus…shouldn’t You hurry up and do something? This is getting messy…Yo, Jesus, do You see the campfire right behind us? Oh yikes! This crowd is getting huge. Tick-tock, Jesus….Wait a minute…hey Peter….maybe Jesus isn’t going to do anything about this. Yea, that’s it! Jesus just wants us to know that this is a life-long struggle for this family.”
As the pregnant pause reaches a crowning, painful birthing point, Jesus does not yet push when the father begs, “If You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” Then, when the tension has reached an unbearable crest, Jesus answers, “If You can?” Now bear with my imagination again as we turn back to the disciples; Jesus might have said, “I don’t know…what do you guys think? Can I?” I believe that every second of pause in this discourse is for the sake of driving home a life long lesson in the 12.
“All things are possible to him who believes.” And while this should be the battle cry of the church, we have all too often defaulted to the next words; the despondent cry of the father, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Please hear me; I have been as given to this as anyone reading this, but I am pleading with you and myself to pull ourselves upward for the prize of the call of God in Christ Jesus; “All things are possible to him who believes.” Where would you rather live the rest of your life?
The conclusion of this account is that Jesus commands the spirit to leave and in an instant the boy is so still he seems dead. (Side note: some of the crowd must have thought that Jesus killed the kid because of the way Mark records it; “most of them said, ‘he is dead!’”) When the disciples finally get some privacy (which I’m sure was none too soon for them) they asked Jesus why they could do nothing. Listen to me; WE NEED TO BE ASKING THE SAME QUESTION!!
Last summer I posted a blog that asks, “How dare we be powerless?” The world we live in is serving up thousands of opportunities every day for the Kingdom of God to demonstrate the absolute goodness of God. But we keep looking for spiritual sounding words instead of paying heed to the answer Jesus gave 2000 years ago in this prophetic story; “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Notice, Jesus never prayed over this boy!! He was not saying that when we really learn how to pray about problems they will leave. He is saying that when we learn to be people who live and breath in prayer, unceasingly, we will have a bank vault full of the intimacy and reality of God that will catapult every dark thing that comes anywhere near our sphere of influence.
The humbling of the 12 in this story is ours too. But the difference is, they didn’t have the convenience of the pages I just used to teach the principles of the Kingdom. They had a matter of months to learn what we have had a matter of centuries to absorb. If Jesus felt “fierce restraint” then, what must He feel today?
Here’s my passionate cry on His behalf; arise and slay the unbelief holding you back! Every time you hear yourself being the victimized father in this story instead of being the fully discipled son or daughter of God, do whatever you must do to run to the manifest Presence of God and pray. And when you pray, do not pray the problem! Prophesy the solution of the Body of Christ becoming the abiding Temple of the Holy Spirit through prayer….and then…..
ABIDE THERE UNTIL YOU RADIATE HIM.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Demand Reality
In 1976 I was hired as a gopher (slave, errand runner, do anything you are asked to do boy) and speech writer for a congressional campaign in Texas. A pastor friend of mine was taking a run at the office and, interestingly enough, one of the other people in the run was a young political upstart named George W. Bush. We, along with "W", lost in the primary. What I saw behind the scenes will never leave me.
We hired an image consultant from New Jersey (get a rope). It fell my duty to go to the airport and pick up the two sleaze bags sent to us to create an image. I drove our candidate's Cadillac. As we were pulling away from the airport curb, a New Jersey accent asks, "Whose car is this?". I grinned and said, "What...don't you think I look like the owner? (no response; I cleared my throat)It belongs to our candidate." "Store it, hide it, put it away until after the campaign. We don't need a preacher driving a Caddy". I quit the campaign 2 days later.
Recently, a government agency held a press conference with employees from their own agency standing in as reporters. Then last week a presidential candidate was caught in the common practice of planting people in the crowd with "questions". I would love to see the behind the scenes image consultants scramble to make that look like something it isn't.
Make no mistake about it, these things happen because we allow it to happen. There is something wounded and broken in the American soul that is vulnerable to being conned and it must be healed! Somewhere, somehow, someone will arise and call into reality the demand for reality that will heal a nation.
Jesus lived as one whole and real Human. So completely at rest with Himself that He did not need anyone's acceptance to feel any better about Himself. So, when a rich man approached Him with what seemed to be a simple question about the afterlife, Jesus felt no compulsion to hide His Caddy in the garage. "Sell everything you have and follow Me". The rich man was not used to people who did not kiss up to him. He was more acclimated to a song and dance to win his favor. He walked away from Jesus and he walked away from his own ultimate reality check.
Demand reality of yourself. Don't play to the expectations of anyone who is not vitally connected to your best interest in Life! Be Holy; one person on stage or back stage. This does not mean that you get to be nasty or grumpy, it just means you need healing deep inside yourself to be at ONE with God and your true self.
Demand reality of political candidates who have an enormous stake in winning your vote (and a job promotion from your vote). I remember when Bob Dole ran for president and he suddenly changed from this guy who was clearly comfortable in his skin to this "thing" that needed to look like a president. After he lost I saw him in an interview, relaxed, joking and laughing at himself. The interviewer said, "Wow. Where was this 'Bob Dole' in the election? I think this Bob Dole would have won". And the crowd applauded...
Let's each one of us give the crowd something to applaud by being real and demanding reality through the self assurance that stands as a sharp contrast to the cartoon characters trying to be something they are not.
We hired an image consultant from New Jersey (get a rope). It fell my duty to go to the airport and pick up the two sleaze bags sent to us to create an image. I drove our candidate's Cadillac. As we were pulling away from the airport curb, a New Jersey accent asks, "Whose car is this?". I grinned and said, "What...don't you think I look like the owner? (no response; I cleared my throat)It belongs to our candidate." "Store it, hide it, put it away until after the campaign. We don't need a preacher driving a Caddy". I quit the campaign 2 days later.
Recently, a government agency held a press conference with employees from their own agency standing in as reporters. Then last week a presidential candidate was caught in the common practice of planting people in the crowd with "questions". I would love to see the behind the scenes image consultants scramble to make that look like something it isn't.
Make no mistake about it, these things happen because we allow it to happen. There is something wounded and broken in the American soul that is vulnerable to being conned and it must be healed! Somewhere, somehow, someone will arise and call into reality the demand for reality that will heal a nation.
Jesus lived as one whole and real Human. So completely at rest with Himself that He did not need anyone's acceptance to feel any better about Himself. So, when a rich man approached Him with what seemed to be a simple question about the afterlife, Jesus felt no compulsion to hide His Caddy in the garage. "Sell everything you have and follow Me". The rich man was not used to people who did not kiss up to him. He was more acclimated to a song and dance to win his favor. He walked away from Jesus and he walked away from his own ultimate reality check.
Demand reality of yourself. Don't play to the expectations of anyone who is not vitally connected to your best interest in Life! Be Holy; one person on stage or back stage. This does not mean that you get to be nasty or grumpy, it just means you need healing deep inside yourself to be at ONE with God and your true self.
Demand reality of political candidates who have an enormous stake in winning your vote (and a job promotion from your vote). I remember when Bob Dole ran for president and he suddenly changed from this guy who was clearly comfortable in his skin to this "thing" that needed to look like a president. After he lost I saw him in an interview, relaxed, joking and laughing at himself. The interviewer said, "Wow. Where was this 'Bob Dole' in the election? I think this Bob Dole would have won". And the crowd applauded...
Let's each one of us give the crowd something to applaud by being real and demanding reality through the self assurance that stands as a sharp contrast to the cartoon characters trying to be something they are not.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
3 Teeth Pulled, 1 Dry Socket and a Funeral
Once again, too long no blog. Hang in there with me. Here's what last week looked like in my life:
Sunday the 4th I got out of the shower at 6am to grab the phone. 2 young
men in our church were in an accident. One died at the scene and the other
one was in the hospital. Alcohol was involved. The day became a blur of
church services, tears, holding grieving and frightened family members and
much prayer.
Monday the 5th I have 3 teeth pulled in preparation for some much needed
dental rebuilding.
Thursday Funeral and Triumph as the mom of the deceased young man stands
bravely in front of 300 in attendance to declare that our church has
declared war with the monster of alcoholism in Wisconsin and this set
back is a set up for victory. I stood at her side proud to be her pastor.
Thursday night pick up guest speakers from Atlanta for the weekend.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday = One dry socket and loads of pain. ER trip
Saturday night.
Monday morning back in the dentist chair.
I have not forgotten my loyal readers, I just need to catch up on life and send you some love real soon......stay tuned.....
Sunday the 4th I got out of the shower at 6am to grab the phone. 2 young
men in our church were in an accident. One died at the scene and the other
one was in the hospital. Alcohol was involved. The day became a blur of
church services, tears, holding grieving and frightened family members and
much prayer.
Monday the 5th I have 3 teeth pulled in preparation for some much needed
dental rebuilding.
Thursday Funeral and Triumph as the mom of the deceased young man stands
bravely in front of 300 in attendance to declare that our church has
declared war with the monster of alcoholism in Wisconsin and this set
back is a set up for victory. I stood at her side proud to be her pastor.
Thursday night pick up guest speakers from Atlanta for the weekend.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday = One dry socket and loads of pain. ER trip
Saturday night.
Monday morning back in the dentist chair.
I have not forgotten my loyal readers, I just need to catch up on life and send you some love real soon......stay tuned.....
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Love's Absolute
Something has to change....wouldn't you agree? I mean, isn't the whole world running hard after some kind of change? Diets, global warming, politics, the fall TV schedule, fashions, new car models, makeovers (extreme or otherwise), the emerging church (a new term but an ancient pursuit), demographics....you name it, its changing. If it isn't changing its probably dying.
However, the key to being part of a change that isn't changing just for change sake is being changed by something Absolute. After all, radical Islamic fundementalists want change too, but their brand of change is death to the infidels and, well, I guess they don't mind dying too.... which pretty much leaves us all dead. My point is that change has to grow out of a deeper transcending Truth because, as stated at the top of this blog, something HAS TO change.
Here's what I believe; If you will give God a handful of change, He will give you an acre of life. God is the only One who can change everything instantly but, He won't impose change where we don't invite it. Hence, giving Him the handful. You and I don't have to change everything today, but we do need to change something.
So here is today's challenge to change: Loved people are extraordinarily and daily changed. Love indeed changes everything! But I hasten to add, not just human love. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy loving and being loved by my wife, family, church and friends. It's just that I have discovered that even if those factors are in place, I am still looking for Love. Love's Absolute is God.
Too often when we approach the subject of the love of God, we smile it off with a warm feeling (at best). At worst, it hits an empty detached wish for an experience. Jesus and Paul prayed for something dramatically different: Read John 17 and Ephesians 3:14-19.
TALK ABOUT ABSOLUTE!! Jesus wants us to have the same love that the Father had for Him, from the beginning, when They lived in the mystery of the Trinity....that Holy Community of Absolute One, though Three. What held Them together? Love. And that Love, Jesus prayed, would be ours. Do you believe Jesus always gets His prayers answered? And Paul gets even crazier because he prayed that we would actually experience God's Love so much so that we would be filled WITH ALL the FULLNESS of God! That's outrageous!
I John 4:16-19 says, “God is love…”. God doesn't just love, He IS Love. This sets an arresting base-line for ALL of our dealings, all of our vision and all of our pursuit of God. This passage also says that this Perfect Love violently, forcefully and furiously "casts" out fear and every related anecdotal deviation even remotely resembling fear.
This kind of Love will ruin us. Sick, dysfunctional, manipulative posers of love won't stand a chance. The human condition is uniquely vulnerable because God created us to be Loved,not just loved. In absence of Love, we become reckless. In the aberrations of Love, we become abnormal. But in the full on Transcendent Supremacy of God's Love we are free to become the full on human we were all destined to be.
So whether you have put yourself in the vortex of this Love for years or you have not at all, in either case, dive in NOW! I know that some of you want to know how, but the truth is, if I knew how, with western scientific precision, I'd borrow all the money I could and advertise it everywhere I could buy the time and space to shout it out. Why? Because something has to change!
The value of any person, place or thing is in direct proportion to the Love that is allowed into on and through that person, place or thing. Allow it. Make room for it. Get out of your own way. Get on your knees and accept it. Go out in the woods and open wide your mind and heart to receive it. Just do something to ALLOW IT!
Jude 20,21 says to keep yourself in the Love of God.
"ARGGGGHHH!", you say. "Tell me how!", you say. I can only tell you why.
Because this LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING!
However, the key to being part of a change that isn't changing just for change sake is being changed by something Absolute. After all, radical Islamic fundementalists want change too, but their brand of change is death to the infidels and, well, I guess they don't mind dying too.... which pretty much leaves us all dead. My point is that change has to grow out of a deeper transcending Truth because, as stated at the top of this blog, something HAS TO change.
Here's what I believe; If you will give God a handful of change, He will give you an acre of life. God is the only One who can change everything instantly but, He won't impose change where we don't invite it. Hence, giving Him the handful. You and I don't have to change everything today, but we do need to change something.
So here is today's challenge to change: Loved people are extraordinarily and daily changed. Love indeed changes everything! But I hasten to add, not just human love. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy loving and being loved by my wife, family, church and friends. It's just that I have discovered that even if those factors are in place, I am still looking for Love. Love's Absolute is God.
Too often when we approach the subject of the love of God, we smile it off with a warm feeling (at best). At worst, it hits an empty detached wish for an experience. Jesus and Paul prayed for something dramatically different: Read John 17 and Ephesians 3:14-19.
TALK ABOUT ABSOLUTE!! Jesus wants us to have the same love that the Father had for Him, from the beginning, when They lived in the mystery of the Trinity....that Holy Community of Absolute One, though Three. What held Them together? Love. And that Love, Jesus prayed, would be ours. Do you believe Jesus always gets His prayers answered? And Paul gets even crazier because he prayed that we would actually experience God's Love so much so that we would be filled WITH ALL the FULLNESS of God! That's outrageous!
I John 4:16-19 says, “God is love…”. God doesn't just love, He IS Love. This sets an arresting base-line for ALL of our dealings, all of our vision and all of our pursuit of God. This passage also says that this Perfect Love violently, forcefully and furiously "casts" out fear and every related anecdotal deviation even remotely resembling fear.
This kind of Love will ruin us. Sick, dysfunctional, manipulative posers of love won't stand a chance. The human condition is uniquely vulnerable because God created us to be Loved,not just loved. In absence of Love, we become reckless. In the aberrations of Love, we become abnormal. But in the full on Transcendent Supremacy of God's Love we are free to become the full on human we were all destined to be.
So whether you have put yourself in the vortex of this Love for years or you have not at all, in either case, dive in NOW! I know that some of you want to know how, but the truth is, if I knew how, with western scientific precision, I'd borrow all the money I could and advertise it everywhere I could buy the time and space to shout it out. Why? Because something has to change!
The value of any person, place or thing is in direct proportion to the Love that is allowed into on and through that person, place or thing. Allow it. Make room for it. Get out of your own way. Get on your knees and accept it. Go out in the woods and open wide your mind and heart to receive it. Just do something to ALLOW IT!
Jude 20,21 says to keep yourself in the Love of God.
"ARGGGGHHH!", you say. "Tell me how!", you say. I can only tell you why.
Because this LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Did you know?
Michael Angelo, our church web artist, asked me last night if I would use this forum to invite you to visit our church web site at, www.lwc1.com . (Thats lower case L W C and the number one). From there you can download my Sunday and Wednesday sermons for free. If you want to burn a CD and give it to a friend, just please write the web site address and this blog site on the CD. And, by the way, there is also a link from the church's web page to this blog.
We are constantly updating that web page and striving to make it as much of a service to as many people as possible. It is important to us that the vision and message that God has entrusted to us is seeded out as far and wide as possible. That is all....
We are constantly updating that web page and striving to make it as much of a service to as many people as possible. It is important to us that the vision and message that God has entrusted to us is seeded out as far and wide as possible. That is all....
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