Bible

Bible / devotion / prayer — 2 Comments
30
Apr 09

Solomon’s one prayer

If God spoke to you and promised to immediately deliver on one prayer, what would you pray? Some may pray for a job, or a house, a spouse, world peace, an end to poverty, strength to just get through the day. Once even Jesus prayed that the burden be taken from him if possible as death on the cross was going to be so painful.

After videotaping a message for LifeChurch.tv‘s One Prayer project, I have the thought of one prayer on my mind a lot. Even this weekend I’m preaching at the mother church and I had to pick some verses from the first half of 1 Kings. This is where Solomon’s one prayer takes place.

I don’t know if I could condense my prayers down to just one if given the opportunity, but let’s see how Solomon responded:

    1 Kings 3:5-12 NIV:

    5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

    6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

    7 “Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

    10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.

Solomon was so honored by God that he only wanted what God wanted. In verse 9 his prayer is that God grant him a discerning heart to govern his people and to distinguish between right and wrong. How humble and noble is that? He didn’t ask for wealth or obedience from his servants or long life or anything practical from a human perspective. He just wanted to be wise. So often, after seeking things from God, in the end, wouldn’t it have been better had we just asked for wisdom and discernment?

I have such a long list of things I’d like to have for my life, my family, my business, and the church plant. Usually at the top of that list is something that money can buy. However, today I need to re-direct those thoughts into seeking God’s wisdom and asking him to give me a discerning heart. Help me to cut through the garbage and focus on things that money can’t buy. Put my sights not on the silver and gold and things that moth and rust can destroy, but turn to heavenly things and trust that God will give me all that is needed to do his will.

In light of Solomon’s wise choice for his prayer, if God were to grant you one prayer that he would immediately deliver upon, what would you pray?

PS. In honor of Solomon’s humbleness and humility, immediately following the passage above, in verse 13 God tells Solomon: “Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.”

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13
Apr 09

Wax on…wax off

Ever had a time when you were forced to do a bunch of steps you felt were unnecessary before having a chance to do that which you felt you could do all along? There is something about the process that just seems so demeaning and unfair.

The funny thing about having to go through these things first, is that I have yet to hear of anyone that complains about it in the end. Once the preliminary work is done, we get the pay off from our persistence. We didn’t know it beforehand, but as a result of the long and seemingly-unreasonable process we are better equipped to do the work without wavering and failing. The persistence pays off!

I’m reminded of the story from The Karate Kid where Daniel-san goes to Mr. Miyagi to learn karate. Instead, Miyagi shows Daniel the floor of his home and asks him to get on his hands and knees and sand it. Daniel also gets to wash Miyagi’s fleet of old, dirty cars and give them a coat of wax. Daniel-san feels like he is being taken for granted as free labor doing Miyagi’s menial work. How wrong Daniel-san was.

Jesus called upon a rich young ruler to take the Daniel-san challenge in Mark 10:17-21:

17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[a]”

20“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Jesus takes a rich young ruler who believes he has everything he needs to know eternal life. He has trained and learned from the Jewish law and has upheld it. All he needs is the blessing from his master and it will be done. However, the master tells him that he still needs to learn more, but first he must give up what is most-important to him and become humble. With that, we learn the young ruler just couldn’t get himself to give up his riches to find the great reward:

22At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

Are we willing to give up our riches (or our: pride, comfort, secure job, worldly relationships, home) in order to become humble and learn the way of the master Christ Jesus? Or do we come to him with our religion and our thoughts of being good-hearted and believe that we deserve entrance into the kingdom of heaven on our terms?

Unfortunately for us as human flesh, it requires discipline, faithfulness and humbleness to obtain greatness. Fortunately for us as human flesh, God knew we couldn’t make it on our own and sent his Son Jesus to intercede for us--he is our peace, hope, comforter, and rock of support. All we have to do is walk away from the things we cling to in this world and follow our master and continue learning. Repeat after me…

    wax on…wax off.
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Bible / church planting — No Comments
2
Apr 09

Hometown hero or prophet without honor?

I was asked by a pastor friend to pray for someone that was leaving his church to plant a church in the same city. First, I was honored that my friend asked me to pray for them & the new ministry. Second, I was excited that my friend’s church was reproducing. Then, it hit me! Hmm, I wonder if this new church plant is going to be a cause for divisiveness at my friend’s church…would people leave to follow the new pastor? I told my friend I was praying that division would not result, and he immediately informed me that everything was worked out and the new plant was a positive step for the city.

I just fell victim to something I really dislike. I passed judgment on a church planting pastor because he was planting in the same city as his home church. After being criticized for the same thing by pastors, here I am doing the same thing. Why?

In order to be relevant to a community and really know the needs and the people there, I think planting a church in a community one is familiar with is a positive thing to do. Why not utilize networks and relationships one has built up over time and see God move through a fresh new ministry in our hometowns? If God has called one to plant a church in their hometown, who are we to speak against it? Is it fear of the new church being more active in the community or becoming larger? Fear that no matter what steps are taken, that some at the home church will migrate to the new ministry?

Unfortunately, a lot of times church is a competitive business. Church shouldn’t be a business, but when it becomes competitive, I believe it becomes a business.

While praying for my friend’s church and the new church plant, I was reminded of Jesus talking about his own struggles in his hometown and how even he--the Son of God--was not received well in the town he called home:

    Mark 6:1-6- 1Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

    “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

    4Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

May the experience I have had with my friend & their new church plant keep me from ever thinking thoughts that lack faith in this area ever again.

Father God, you know who I’m praying for and why you convicted me of my negative thoughts. Lord I ask your forgiveness for my short-sightedness and I ask you to continue flowing favor, goodness, and mercy upon my friend’s church, ministry, and the wonderful new work you are doing their church planting efforts. Raise them up and give them strength to overcome the obstacles that are thrown across their path. Lead them to believe that they are going to be hometown heroes because of all that honors and glorifies you, rather than be prophets without honor. Father I ask for your blessings upon all of my friends that are planting churches throughout the land. Whether they are planting at home or being sent elsewhere, may they turn to you for wisdom and hope--you and you alone. May it never be for the glory of man, but for the awesome eternal work of your hands God. In Jesus name, amen.

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Bible / church / ministry / vision — 2 Comments
31
Mar 09

First Century Church: is it relevant?

As someone that is modeling a church plant after the first century church as described in Acts 2, I was a little thrown when I read a comment from a friend of mine. Darin has some experience with a negative side of the first century church. He posted about it to his blog last week. He ended his post with these words:

The Bible is used as a weapon where people’s pet peeves and personal likes become authorized by God.

If only we would allow the Spirit to rule our hearts and minds.

Apparently, Darin tried implementing a first century church model only to settle on something different. It seems that some have cited the Acts 2 model of church as being the only true church.

I tried responding to Darin’s blog post directly, but in the end, I am not quite sure what to say. How can anyone say that the first century church as described in Acts 2 is the only true church? Obviously, the churches in Corinth and Ephesus did not meet in the same manner. Also, with the amazing things happening through ministries such as LifeChurch.tv, North Point Community Church, Seacoast Church, Newspring Church, Elevation Church, etc. how could anyone say that unless you are gathering together in a smaller setting, breaking bread, listening to the Apostle’s teachings, and giving sacrificially you cannot be the true church? The amazing thing about being in ministry today is that God is using all kinds of models and movements to serve as the church. Churches are groups of 3 or more in homes, or 20 people in a coffee shop, or 75 people in a traditional church cathedral, or even 40,000 in a former NBA basketball arena. God is everywhere and he is creating ministry in many different settings. The reason is that no model or building can be the church. We as Christ’s disciples gathering together are his true church.

So, is the first century church relevant? Of course it is! However, so is the church that gathers in a movie theater, school multi-purpose room, small apartment, or traditional church building. Besides, how can we really define what the first century church really was? Many of us like to refer to Acts 2, but as we know from reading the Epistles that there were large church gatherings in the city such as in Ephesus and some rowdy gatherings in Corinth. Some churches gave sacrificially, while others did not and were rebuked by the Apostle Paul. Some idolized signs and wonders and some followed men rather than Christ. Therefore, who can say exactly what the first century church really looked like? It was probably as diverse back in 70 AD as it is in 2009 AD.

I truly hope there are not people that idolize the church over gathering in the name of Christ to worship him and serve others. I also hope that church leaders would be above something as trivial as turning a beautiful passage in Acts 2 into something personally sacred and putting the look and feel of the church above loving others and letting God build his church through a unique vision he has entrusted to a worthy servant.

At Revolution Church Sacramento, our vision is to be a transformed church that God may use to help transform the lives of others. Gathering together in a way similar to what is described in Acts 2 is just an extension of the vision. Because of our love for God and our love for others, we want to: gather and enjoy fellowship with each other, break bread together, let God’s Word teach and edify us, witness amazing signs and wonders of God’s Holy Spirit moving through our community, and give sacrificially for the sake of others coming to know God’s love and mercy. It’s all about loving God and loving others. The rest is in God’s hands and no church model or strategy will ever overrule that!

Please don’t make the church your idol! Let God be your God and Christ the head of the church. Anything else will just end in futility.

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1
Feb 09

How to read your Bible for daily devotions: Day Seven

Guest blogger: Rick Osborne
website/blog: http://rick-osborne.com
twitter: @rickosborne

Day Seven
conclusion

• Slowly read Philippians 4:1-20 to help you get a context for today’s reading.
• Next pray and sincerely ask God to plant his Word in you and change you into the person he created you to be. Don’t just say the words; he’s right there with you, take a few minutes and talk to him from your heart. (If you’re having trouble believing that you can change ask him for help with that as well.)
• Now read just verses 14–20. Read them slowly and think over what is being said. Read them again and again.

14. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

15. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only;

16. for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.

17. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.

18. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

19. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

20. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

• Now ask yourself questions and discuss the answers with God. Today I’m not providing the question, I think you’ve got the idea.
• Prayerfully read the verses again and ask yourself which verse or phrase hit you as something that you should apply to your own life and pray about?
• Finally what are you going to do about it? Talk to God, decide and go do it.
• And finally, if you were previously racing through your devotional Bible readings don’t go back. Continue to allow God to transform you with his Word.

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