Recharge Our Batteries

My current quiet time finds me in the book of John. I would like to concentrate on the following verses from John, chapter 1 (NIV):


:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
:5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.


Have you ever experienced a room that was pitch black, and you couldn’t even see your finger if you placed it directly in front of your eyes? I remember doing this as a kid and coming away with the thought, “How could you not see your own finger if you put it one centimeter away from your eyeball?” I didn’t realize how pitch black darkness can be! It becomes so frightening that even the slightest bit of unrecognized sound emits pictures in our minds worthy of the SciFi channel! Darkness, in a Biblical sense, represents ignorance and sin. It is an active rejection of God’s will. It is a picture of unregenerate humanity under the influence of the world forces of this domain of darkness. There are people who not only do not accept the light. They often resist it in their lives. Those that are in darkness reject Christ, His light, and His followers.

How much darkness do you see around you? Is there evidence of it on our planet? How has darkness reared its ugly head in your community? Has it appeared like a vapor seeping under the door of your church? Have you noticed it creeping up your leg, gripping you, getting a foothold? Darkness is everywhere, but it cannot extinguish the light! No matter how black or how menacing the darkness, even a small light can drive it back. You light a small candle in a darkened room and there is instantly less darkness. Darkness cannot prevail where light is present.

The power of Christ's light overcomes any darkness in the world. Believers no longer walk blindly in sin, rather his light shows sin and the need of forgiveness, gives guidance, and leads into eternal life with him. John notes one of the greatest tragedies: the world —humankind— did not recognize its own Creator. They were blinded and could not see his light. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).


How can you not recognize the light? It seems so obvious, especially in our time. The Jews didn't recognize the light. The world is not recognizing its creator. How many people today follow false gods or no God? How do people become blind and unable to see the light? Were they born blind (inherited in some way) or did blindness strike them at a later date? Even though it only takes a little bit of light to offset the darkness, if people are blind and cannot see the light, how can we help them see again? In a dark room even a little bit of light would penetrate the darkness, even a sliver of light would get the one in darkness to acknowledge its presence. I believe this would cause a person to be more curious about seeking more light.

May the Lord help us realize how just a little light could convince someone in the darkness, to consider the existence of more light. What can we do that puts off just a little light? This isn’t rocket science and I don’t believe it would take anything spectacular on our part. A kind word or a kind deed might be the only light someone would need to see. The light can penetrate any darkness. This is a refreshing and comforting fact. "Lord, help us to share this good news with those in darkness." We rejoice and are thankful that nothing can extinguish this light; nothing can put it out. "Thanks, Lord. Lord help me to increase my prayers that people of this world, people I come into contact with would not be blinded by the darkness and unable to see the light. Help that light to shine beyond a doubt to those who are having trouble seeing it."

How will we be lights in the darkness this June? Pray that God will motivate us to turn the switch on. Get rid of dead batteries.

New Moon, Same Lies

The Twilight Saga just produced it’s newest book in the Vampire-crazed literature scene -- New Moon, which is also the number one selling DVD in America. Before that we had the book Twilight and after New Moon will be Eclipse, then Breaking The Dawn. There is one thing true about capitalism -- if there is money to be made, we will exploit it and keep making the product. A Bing search of the word vampire produces 51,400,000 entries compared to Jesus at 101,000,000. At least the good guys are still ahead. From TV shows, to movies, to books, to blogs, to Facebook, to costumes and vampire paraphernalia, this fascination with vampires has bombarded our society like a lethal mine field that is killing, possibly millions of people. I am writing about this in view of the fact of the mass hysteria that has been created by the subject and because of a recent article I read from a woman who was one of the most prolific vampire writers -- Anne Rice, http://www.annerice.com/.

I said was. She started to write Christian fiction after the death of her atheist husband, Stan, who died of cancer in 2002. My recollection of her story was that she was the second daughter from an Irish Catholic background before her marriage. She says the fact her husband was an atheist did have an effect on her choosing to write vampire literature. I have personally

listened to her first two Christian books, Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ The Lord: The Road to Cana. I recently read her most current Christian fiction novel entitled Angel Time, which is the first book in a new series she is entitling Songs of the Seraphim. I am in no way debating her theology -- keep in mind these are books of fiction, but writing about God and His Kingdom versus Satan and his kingdom is a vast improvement.

In a recent interview, Anne confesses there is no rest and no peace without God. For 38 years, Rice was a “Christ-haunted atheist,” she says in a recently posted “I Am Second” video http://iamsecond.com/#/home/ Rice is the latest celebrity to give a video testimony on “I Am Second,” a movement which seeks to lift up Christ by declaring that He is first and we are second. Other celebrities who have given testimonies include former NFL Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, former lead guitarist/co-founder of the metal band Korn, Brian “Head” Welch, and Major League Baseball Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton.

Rice gained fame and wealth from her vampire novels (her books have sold 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history), but internally she was increasingly dissatisfied with “the world in which salvation was not a possibility.” And the reason for the dissatisfaction was simple: “I really believed in God,” she says in the video. “Not only did I believe in Him but I loved Him and I wasn’t admitting it.” Her vampire novels were a reflection of her internal struggle living in the godless world she created. The vampire, she says, is a metaphor for the outcast and the person who feels cut off from God.

As mentioned earlier, Rice grew up in a Catholic home, but she rejected her faith when she was 18 to gain freedom and search for knowledge. "I felt that there were so many things forbidden to me as a Christian … I felt a desperate need to be free,” she recalls.

In the “I Am Second” video, Rice says she was reminded again and again “that as long as you are denying God you will not know any rest. You will not know any peace. You can’t save yourself through art. You can’t save yourself through music. You can’t do it through travel. You can’t do it through wealth,” Rice shares. “All your attempts at saving and transcending through other means will ultimately fail. You save yourself or God saves you when you turn to Him.” And since we can’t save ourselves, I will use a title of a movie that was made from one of her vampire books, we will be The Queen of the Damned and King as well.
 

After nearly four decades of denying God, Rice says she was finally ready to surrender to Him. “I surrendered the doubts,” she says. “Imperfectly and contrite, I went back.” And returning to Christ has changed everything in her life. For one, she no longer feels she can work with the vampire metaphor. “I wasn’t a person in a godless world [anymore], far from it,” she says. Now Rice devotes her time writing books that are “directly to God and devoted to Jesus Christ. I have changed and I have to do this,” she says with determination. “I have to write for Him.”

Hear this all you New Moon fans, no one is ever cut off from God! That is the same lie Satan has been telling since the beginning of time. Jesus loved the outcasts of His day (Read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. See it for yourself.) as well as today! If we desire to overcome acedia in this area of our lives, then we must come to the realization that there are not outcasts in the world we live in. Jesus said, "the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." (John 6:37) The Church has to do a better job ministering to the unclean. So why the vampire craze? Could it be a testimony of all the lonely hearts searching for acceptance and love yet not finding it? It’s time to shine the Light on this problem and watch the vampire craze slowly melt away.  

Are You In Need Of A Healing Service?

When was the last time you attended a "healing service," or have you ever? I remember, a while ago, attending a new church service and the pastor offered healing, afterwards, to anyone who would come forward and receive it. A friend of mine attended the service with me and had the faith to go forward to be rid of a nagging knee problem that he had from an old athletic injury. (If I would have gone forward, talk about old athletic injuries! He would have spent the day praying over this old body.) My friend still has the knee injury. Maybe it was because of his lack of faith, or maybe God wasn’t in a good mood that day and just didn’t want to heal him? Or maybe it was not a valid, biblical expectation to have of God. It’s amazing how we all want to be healed of something.

The above healing service wasn’t like the one held in Jesus’ day, previous to Mark 1:44, where Jesus performed yet another healing miracle (The person was actually healed.), yet didn’t want it advertised. There would be no mass marketing to advertise the amazing powers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus didn’t endorse radio and TV ads proclaiming His miraculous powers. He didn’t even create a website and start a virtual church. He told the man that had been cured of leprosy to hush up now, or was it a little stronger admonition? After everyone found out Jesus was the real deal when it came to healing others, He could no longer stay in towns and speak in synagogues, because people would flock to be healed and the crowds were simply getting too big (lest we forget the 10,000 people on the hillside for the fish and chips dinner).

My first thought is - why wouldn’t Jesus want this man to go be a blabbermouth? Free advertisement. Think of the crowds Jesus could draw. Eighty some percent of people who attend your church service are invited by members. There would be more people to hear the message. The bigger the crowd, the more opportunities for people to be saved. While we might think so, Jesus knew better (Jn 2:24-25). Jesus’ mission was to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God. If crowds descended on him to see miracles accomplished, or to benefit from his power, they would not be  

coming with the heart attitude needed to hear and respond to the gospel. They would just be seeking to have a physical need met through healing, instead of the much more important need of being healed spiritually. Jesus did not come to this earth to be a miracle worker in a sideshow. He came to save our souls. 

How often do we pray for physical healing when, in reality, it is a cleansing of one’s soul that needs to take place? When I preached in Long Island, NY, the state medical facility (I believe in Suffolk County) invited clergy to participate in a group of meetings where the health officials not only entertained the thought, but actually believed, that some mental illness (like March Madness?) could be attributed to demon possession or oppression. These medical professionals were more progressive in their theology than preachers were in the churches back then. They realized maybe what some of these people needed wasn’t physical healing (aka, more meds) but actually needed to be spiritually healed to be cured of this dreaded physical disease. Can you imagine if we actually started believing more and more that He is the Great Physician?

In Mark 5:34, we read about Jesus healing the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years. The doctors couldn’t fix her with all their methodologies. The word “healed” in the Greek actually means "saved." Here both physical healing ("be freed from your suffering") and spiritual salvation ("go in peace") are meant. The two also appear together in Mark 2:1-12 and 3:1-6. To be both healed physically and spiritually at the touch of Jesus!  He would be the only one someone could touch and accomplish this feat. I take that back. The first century apostles also performed such twofold miracles. We need to understand and comprehend that spiritual healing was part of the process of being healed, not just a physical healing. Oftentimes we are supportive of missions or people that just meet the physical needs of individuals without addressing the true need - spiritual healing. Jesus is shows us an example where both types of healing need to be done for a person to be truly healed.

So how do we go about overcoming acedia in this area of our lives and in our churches? I think we need to get back to the priority of preaching the Gospel for salvation. We need to realize that what a person might need first is to be freed from sin, before we can address their physical needs. I am not advocating we forget about their physical needs. It’s just that I believe Satan has convinced us that if we just meet their physical needs they will be okay and become interested in what we can offer them for their spiritual needs, and we wind up investing too much in the former and neglecting the latter.  But, no one is truly okay unless they have accepted the Good News and are truly healed spiritually! This has to be what God's people are to be about, first and foremost.

 

How’s The Whitewash Holding Up?

Have you ever walked through a graveyard at night? You remember back in your high school days when someone just dared you to stay in the graveyard all night? Kind of spooky wasn’t it? Every little noise and our imaginations ran wild. Every little movement, we caught with the corners of our eyes. It could get worse, especially when you can’t see the gravestones and trip and fall because of the darkness, and then you’re lying on top of a dead person.

In Jesus’ day they used to whitewash the tombstones so they would be more visible, especially at night, because if a person stepped on a gravestone they became ceremonially unclean (Numbers 19:16). So the outside looked good, but obviously the inside was filled with dead man’s bones and many things that were ceremonially unclean.


In Matthew 23:27-28 Jesus gave the religious leaders of His day the “woe treatment” (I wonder if this treatment would work today. Did it "work" for Jesus?) for being hypocrites. They looked good on the outside (When the religious whitewash was working, they appeared to be righteous.) but on the inside, and in reality, they were full of wickedness and hypocrisy.

But, what happens, if like me, you don’t look good on the outside (As most of you know, I have no receding hairline, because I have no hair. There are plenty bald, ugly guys that inhabit the earth.) or the inside - a  “double dilemma”? You can always use some whitewash (or Rogaine formula) on the outside.


Do you know what whitewash looks like? Could it be a religious checklist we go through each week, without having a relationship with Jesus. Could it be that we tithe, but then we beat our wives? Could it be that we are involved with a small group where marriage enrichment is the topic, but we are having an affair with another man? Whitewash is a cheap imitation.

As a the song entitled, "Stain Glass Masquerade," by Casting Crowns states, in a part of the lyrics, “Am I the only one that is trading in the altar for a stage." Sunday masks are a very popular item worn by all kinds of people in all kinds of churches. Since I am a pretty straightforward guy, sometimes in our travels somebody will ask me on a Sunday morning at church the famous check up question to determine my current spiritual status, “How are you doing?” If I don’t give the typical “fine” answer, people are simply lost for a response.


The truth is, there are times when I am not fine, not fine at all. And masks, don’t you get tired of wearing one? Jesus knows our heart. Why the dress up game? I know you’re a leader, or a leader's wife. You know spiritually mature people are supposed to be sinless, no problems? Right?


If I stopped and considered what I whitewash in my life, there would be quite a laundry list! I can whitewash my overeating, or better yet, eating too many sweets. (I do like those Casey donuts.) I can put the brush to my ability to put down other people and emotionally abuse them. I can get out a roller and really put a good coat of whitewash on when it comes to being judgmental towards others and other ministries. Whitewash kind of sounds like hogwash. (It’s the Iowa kid in me.)


How do we overcome the acedia in this area of our lives?


Honesty, humility, integrity, and being real! Let’s trade in the whitewash for some honest-to-goodness, godly turpentine! God says He can clean us as white as snow. That takes on real meaning where I live! Whitewash on the outside or made white by God on the inside. No comparison.

Are You Ready To Eat Rattlesnake?

Don (my travel companion) and I recently got back from a trip to Hugoton, KS. We visited its First Christian Church and were invited to take part in a Wild Game Feed on Saturday evening -- a men only event (comparable to a baby shower?). Besides the food being excellent, I was asked to give a presentation on Leadership. In this case I addressed the Leadership Dilemma we have in the church, or should I say our Lack of Leadership Dilemma?

Anyway, back to the food -- wild game, possible road kill, etc. -- for a second. I ate, for the first time in my life, two items that were on the menu (which included many different varieties of wild game: elk, deer, salmon, walleye, various stews, etc.). The two new items for my palate were rattlesnake, and something known as "sheep fries" by those in the wild game feed venue. The rattlesnake did not taste like chicken (a common association of taste, made to anything that you have never eaten at a wild game feed) but more of a bland non-distinctive tasting item. The sheep fries were excellent! I can’t describe the taste other than they were excellent. Sheep fries (the nice generic name for this dish), which are actually . . . okay, don’t read the rest of this unless you want to be grossed out . . . this is a man’s thing -- sheep testicles were quite tasty. To eat such things, one has to be a bit radical.

Speaking of radical….
Matthew 4:19-20 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.” Jesus calls and without praying, without seeking advice or counsel, without checking their calendars for upcoming fishing competitions, the disciples were radical and just followed Jesus. Radical discipleship, how would you define it? And once you defined it, would you qualify? And along with this radical obedience came a radical adjustment of their attitudes toward reaching out and sharing the Good News with the people they came into contact with. Evangelism was at the heart of the call, which would be radical in a lot of churches and disciples that we run into in our travels. Radical discipleship is further exemplified by the Master himself.

As I continue my reading in Matthew I find out as you would that Jesus did not hesitate to become “unclean” in performing miracles. Jesus does this on numerous occasions (just to mention the few I touched on in Matthew 7), the leper, and going to the home of a Roman centurion. Then you have to personalize the question, do I hesitate to become “unclean” when doing ministry, or when being a radical disciple? What does becoming “unclean” look like in practical terms? Becoming unclean in Jesus’ days were doing things that where culturally prohibited for the Jews. You would be looked down upon, scorned, and rejected. I don't think I have ever done anything that would lead me to become "unclean" within my cultural context how about you?
 

What would be some examples of personal actions we would perform that would be “unclean” within our personal cultural context? A Christ follower, giving his whole pay check to a homeless person in need? A Christ follower, giving a kidney away to save a complete stranger, who was gay? A Christ follower, selling his house that is worth $250,000 and moving into a house that cost $100,000 and giving the profits to God’s Kingdom? A Christ follower, praying for and loving His enemies? A Christ follower who would…. It just dawned on me that to become “unclean” in Jesus day would mean that we would break the law, the Jewish law.

Does that mean for us to become “unclean”

 in our culture we would break the law of the United States?

 How can we overcome acedia and become more radical disciples of Jesus Christ? I don’t think that eating rattlesnake or sheep fries would be against the law, but are you ready to try some?


 

Wiping Your Feet With Our Hair?

I am cutting back to once a month on this blog from twice a month. I am trying to be a good steward of the time God gives me. If you would like to see this blog return to twice a month, let me know.

Let's examine John 12:3, this time: “Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance."

Did you know that Jewish women rarely unbound their hair in public, let alone to wipe a man’s feet with it! Mary's action represents an intense personal devotion to Christ. She was acting against all conventional wisdom and customs of her day. Wiping another person’s feet with your hair was an act of humble submission and devotion. We can hardly appreciate how dirty and smelly a person’s feet were in the ancient Near East. Roads were dusty. People wore sandals, and most people walked wherever they went. To wipe someone's unwashed feet with one's hair would have been rather disgusting -- dirt and sweat in your hair -- and thus would show great devotion and humility.

As I studied this passage in my quiet time the other day, and then further thought on it during the rest of the day alone with God, I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit of the magnitude of this small passage! Mary's act of love toward the Savior was unconditional and unconventional! Her love for Jesus was counterculture.

I started to ponder: "Is my love for Christ counterculture?" I find myself loving Christ in the confines and boundaries our church society sets up as acceptable. "Has the genuine love we need to have towards You melted down to a ridiculous religious love toward You? A love towards You bound more by rules and regulations and less about a broken and contrite heart that seeks a Savior out of an unabashed need, versus a checklist of religiosity completed? This might be why it is hard for us to cry out to You from a full broken heart. Our humanness, has confined us to thinking and believing what our little brains can wrap around - not much faith here. My conscience started to reveal to me how much I am truly afraid of loving You."

The last thing I see in most churches and Christians is that they love God in an unconditional and unconventional way. Since love is action, what have we done lately in an unconventional or unconditional way to show the love we have for Jesus?

We need to cry out to God with tears that He can wipe and ask Him to help us to not base our love for Him on the expected norms of our day. We need to put on sackcloth and pour ashes on our heads and seek God’s forgiveness as we learn to love Him in a supernatural way versus the same old boring, worldly way.

As I was seeking His forgiveness for my lack of a more intimate relationship with Him, the Holy Spirit challenged me with this profound thought, “How can I wipe your feet with my hair in unexpected and extraordinary ways?” (This is even more profound, since, as most of you know, I don’t have a lot of hair, so I am going to really have to be creative.) My goal of overcoming acedia in the love department with God is a major goal I want to strive to achieve in this new year. Our goal: to love Jesus, like Mary did! Amen.

Climbing The Summit 25,000Feet!

Chip and Dan Heath (brothers) presented a session on how to change when change is hard.


Their abbreviated bios off their web page http://madetostick.com/  include the following:

• Chip Heath is a Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is the co-author of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, which has been a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller. Chip is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Nike, the Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, Ideo, and the American Heart Association.
• Dan is the co-author of the book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Dan is also a columnist for Fast Company magazine, and he has spoken and consulted on the topic of "making ideas stick" with organizations such as Microsoft, Nestle, the American Heart Association, Nissan, and Macy's.

I am currently reading their book Made To Stick. The theme of the book concentrates on why some ideas survive while others die. To make ideas survive we simply have to make them “sticky.” However, their talk associated with this Christian leadership event dealt more with their book, Switch, which I happen to have a pre-released copy of. The caption on the cover states, “How to change things when change is hard.” This book I believe will be released to the general public in February, 2010. You cannot quote it or blog about it until January of 2010, but we can talk about their session at the Leadership Summit.


The first question we must ask ourselves when it comes to change in the church is, “What really needs to change: the individuals or a ministry?” In my opinion there might be times when it would be a combination of both. When we need to change, a battle starts to unfold in our brain. There are three competing systems in our brains that react when we are contemplating change:

• the Rider (the rational side of us),
• the Elephant (the emotional side of us)
• and the Path (shaping the Path) the elephant should take.

This analogy comes from Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, in his wonderful book, “The Happiness Hypothesis.” The Rider knows where he wants to go, but the Elephant might not want to go. So the Rider has to convince and appeal to the Elephant where to go, what path to take.


We need to provide very clear directions for the Rider. Sometimes what is perceived as resistance is simply a lack of clarity. Once the Elephant is listening to the Rider and moves, how can we keep the elephant moving? The Elephant can sometimes be skittish and lazy, often looking for a quick payoff over a long term payoff. When change efforts fail, it is usually the Elephant’s fault, since most changes we desire involve short term sacrifices for long term payoffs. Changes often fail because the Rider can’t keep the Elephant on the path long enough to reach the desired destination.


As we shape the path for the Rider and Elephant to take we must consider that what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. Consider the environment we are in -- altering it will influence the way people behave, irrespective of their Rider and Elephant.


The job of the leader is to appeal to both the Rider and the Elephant. If we reach the Riders of our team but not the Elephants, they’ll have understanding without motivation. If we reach the Elephants and not the Riders, they’ll have passion without direction. If the two are not moving together on the same path is will be a disaster, but when they are working together change can come more easily.


We all have rational and emotional people on our teams. In fact, depending on the issue, there might be some role reversals within the same people. Sometimes your hot button is not my hot button.

If we are to overcome acedia we need to get all people on board and this will take time, prayer, and possibly purchasing Switch, once it is available!