One of the things I must admit to doing this year was being very negative in regards to the presidential election. As someone that understands the economy a bit, the idea of taxing the wealthiest 5% of the nation wasn’t going to do it, nor could he possibly avoid taxing those who make less than $250,000. His mantras definitely screamed of socialism. Having said that, the results are what they are and we have elected our next president. Now, it’s time to be thankful for the momentus, historic occassion of electing our nation’s first African-American president and embrace his freshness and hope that he will have a vision that he can enact to see this country through our current difficulties. I am thankful that many people went to the polls–the wave of youthful, 1st time voters was awesome–and are happy with the results. I will do what is necessary to stand behind and pray for President-Elect Obama and trust that in God all things are possible and that he is in control, not me.

Aside from giving thanks for a new direction for our nation under Obama, I am most grateful for the family whom I am surrounded with this holiday. It’s sort of odd that when the economy was doing okay we were going through some financial crises, but now that everyone acknowledges that we are in a recession we have what we need and no stress when it comes time to pay the bills. I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how and why God does things the way he does, but I am thankful that he does not require me to do so. If I worship him and honor him through my obedience all things will be taken care of and I do not need to worry about anything. God has given me more time with my family this holiday season and a greater sense of peace as I express my love for them more and they respond in kind. Love really is the basis for things of God and I am thankful that in putting my family before ministry that I am feeling more loved and able to share my love on a deeper level with my family. For the first time in years I think they know that I put them ahead of ministry and I am remorseful that it took 3 years to figure that out.

So many things to be thankful for this year, but I can’t spend the rest of day outlining them here as there is much cooking I need to be doing. I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on those things I am thankful for and encourage you to do the same. What are you most thankful for this year? I’d appreciate hearing from you!

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

I am reminded today of Mr. Willard and all that he lended to the vision God shared with me for his church and how what Gpd put in my heart could be used in the context of church even though it wasn’t conventional or traditional or understood by those from traditional church circles. As I spend time this week seeing my passion for God’s people and his kingdom rekindled through re-reading The Divine Conspiracy, let me share with you some famous quotes from Dallas Willard:

• “The greatest challenge the church faces today is to be authentic disciples of Jesus.”
• “If you don’t have a teacher you can’t have a disciple.”
• “Does the Gospel I preach and teach have a natural tendency to cause people who hear it to become full-time students of Jesus? Would those who believe it become his apprentices as a natural ‘next step’? What can we reasonably expect would result from people actually believing the substance of my message?”
• “Generally, what I find is that the ordinary people who come to church are basically running their lives on their own, utilizing . . . their natural abilities . . . to negotiate their way. They believe there is a God and they need to check in with him. But they don’t have any sense that he is an active agent in their lives. As a result, they don’t become disciples of Jesus. They consume his merits and the services of the church [,but] discipleship is no essential part of Christianity today.”
• “There is nothing that can be done with anger that cannot
  be done better without it.”
• “We should not only want to be merciful, kind, unassuming, and patient persons but also be making plans to become so.”
• “We need to have vision, intention and means in order to achieve spiritual formation. That’s the basic issue regarding the teaching of Jesus. There isn’t a single thing that Jesus taught that a person cannot by engaging His grace come to do. Not a single thing. But you have to want to. And you have to decide to. And that’s what is lacking.”
• The revolution of Jesus is first and always a revolution of the human heart. His revolution does not proceed through the means of social institutions and laws—the outer forms of our existence—intending that these would then impose a good order of life upon people who come under their power. Rather, his is a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship with God and one another. It is a revolution that changes people’s ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations. It penetrates the deepest layers of their soul. External, social arrangements may be useful to this end, but they are not the end, nor are they a fundamental part of the means.

I’ll post something in-context from The Divine Conspiracy tomorrow.

Psalm 42-
New Living Translation

1 As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”4 My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.

9 “O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

11 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!

http://www.djchuang.com/

This is just so hilarious

For my last sermon last Sunday, I spoke about Romans 15:13. It’s my favorite verse in the entire Bible and it speaks to me in amazing ways…when I allow it to speak to me. Sometimes I take this verse for granted and it’s a terrible thing to do with God’s word. I’ve repented and I’ve been humbled before my Lord. I am learning to live in hope for tomorrow, yet recognizing the beauty of what God has placed before me today. I am hopeful that my time with my family will be honored by God and that he will use me to touch my daughters in ways that they will come to Christ and commit their lives to him as their Lord and Savior. Through my time of renewal and learning to wait on God, I am hopeful that he will call and I will answer in faith. In recognizing how far I have come, and realizing how far I have to go, that God will meet me where I am and show me the way to take those things that I have been gifted at doing and combining them with those things that God has burdened my heart for and made me passionate about. There is much to be hopeful for in the new place I am at this week and what a joyful and peaceful place I find myself as I remind myself of his promise to me and the promise he made to all of his people.

Romans 15:13- May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord God, I pray that you wil fill your people with the hope that will change the world. That through their witness you will become known to those that did not know you before. That the hope that overflows rains down upon those in darkness and calls them to come into your light. May we learn to trust in you so deeply that your Holy Spirit can give us joy and peace through the hope you pour into our spirit, so much so that it overflows into those you have placed around us. In Christ’s name, amen.

Rather than try to explain more, let me point to you and unbelievably thorough and educational link that JR Woodward shared on his Dream Awakener blog:

http://jrwoodward.net/2008/11/a-primer-on-todays-missional-church/

Click it and prepare to be blessed.

As I am seeking God for where he will order my steps to go next, I am focusing on getting to a place where this prayer can have the meaning that God wants it to have from my heart to his ear. As I share this prayer with you, I pray that God may use this prayer to speak powerfully to where you are at and to have you present yourself before God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of God:

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light! It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

And you murderers—out of here!— all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.

See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!

Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Lord, we lift this psalm to you in Jesus’ name, amen.

Father, thank you for caring for me so much that you would send this powerful prayer to me through the blessing I know as David Meysembourg. What a great friend who is there for me whenever I call–a friend that inspires me and encourages me to trust in you and to live the life you’ve called me to live, whether it be in the church, the board room, or a classroom. My life belongs to you and I pray that I may have the humility and faithfulness to let you use me in your way, rather than have me turn away and do things my way. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Here’s a link to the ebook…may it bless you even more than it has blessed me:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/TribesQA2.pdf

Yesterday I gave my last sermon before my home church. Oddly enough, after all that I had done to prepare myself for the ministry of preaching in the past 3 years, I feel at peace with knowing I won’t be preaching in the near future. It’s been a struggle. I’ve been influenced by what I think people want to see and hear from me, while at the same time trying to be unconventional in a conventional church setting.

The wheels of the bus kept going ’round and ’round and it seems no one wanted to stop and get off. Well, I finally made the decisions that I needed to seek change. My last 3 years of ministry have been quite a journey. I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot, and slid backwards a lot. Most of the times I felt like the proverbial square peg trying to be pushed into the round hole. I have nothing but positive to things to say from my experience and I am so very appreciative that my senior pastor gave me room to spread my wings and fly when most wouldn’t even respect my calling due to my limited experience in church and my only being a Christian for about 4 years.

There is one thing I’ve learned in my years of working in the secular world, and that is to not go to work out of obligation or to show up being less-than-enthusiastic. I won’t allow myself nor those in God’s church to be exposed to my ministry if this is what I am bringing. After 3 years of never missing a Sunday or being able to get away for a family vacation, I felt the pressure of burnout. My life was out of balance. My eyes were firmly fixed on planting a church at all costs and ignoring those things that God had put before me today. I kept moving toward the finish line, yet feeling like my legs were tied together and I was not getting very far. It could keep going and expend a ton of energy and continue to be frustrated, or I can just stop and untie my legs, learn to walk with both legs working in unison and get them pointed in the right direction, and then be assured of finishing the race with the strength that Christ equips me with.

The diffifulty in all of this is finding it so difficult to find people that are in my network that truly understand the missional church and how leading a missional church is so different from leading an attractional church or a traditional church where people are taught the word of God, yet not really called upon to commit anything to action. I want to challenge people and ask them to commit to a life of faith with me! I want people to challenge me and ask me to commit to a life of faith with them! I feel a deep desire and longing to be the church and to share the love of Christ with those that do not know him. I feel now is the time to get things in order within my household and to wait on God to show me the way to honoring him and reaching his people for Christ. It’s as if it’s part of my DNA and I can’t shake it even if I want to. It’s time for me to enter into the next phase of my journey and I need to stand firm with the belt of truth around my waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with my feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Lord, I come to you humbled, broken and sorrowful, yet I am hopeful that you will speak to me and show me the way to be led back to you.

Father God, I am sorry for getting to the place where the wheels on the bus went ’round and ’round. I ask your forgiveness for not being renewed daily and letting you transform my mind and spirit for the sake of your precious gospel. Lord, I cannot pretend anymore and I do not want to cause your children to stumble. As I remove myself from ministry for the sake of humbling myself and learning to trust you and seek you and not believe in my own strength, would you please surround me with people that will help me to be held accountable and to monitor my spiritual health? Will you put some people in our path so that my wife and I can learn to love each other as Christ loves us so that we can walk the path of this journey together in harmony and peace so that you may use us to help see lives transformed and love to fill the hearts of our community? As you draw us close to you, may you connect us with others that are passionate for your church, sympathetic to our struggles, and witnesses to standing upon faith. Cause us to put all things at the foot of the cross and to be burdened only for those things that you place upon our hearts. Make us one, in our marriage, in our family, in our city, in this world. In the name of Jesus, amen.