"I love it when a plan comes together!"

If you are a man and you grew up in the 80's, then you know these words made famous by Hannibal on the A-Team. I stand amazed at all of the things God is doing in the lives of people. what amazes me more is that He is allowing me to see them. I spoke with a friend this morning who told me of the blessing that God is pouring out in his life because of his obedience and surrender to God. It is amazing to see and hear the freedom in the voice of a friend who has surrendered everything to God. There is a release like none other. Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. There is true freedom in the life of the disciple, in fact, it is only in the life of the disciple that freedom can be found. Freedom is not guaranteed by a document. Freedom is guaranteed only through the cross. I rejoice to see all that God is doing in me and the lives of those around me. In the words of the Doxology -- Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

The Power of But

This year, I've challenged the church where I pastor to read through the Bible with me. So far, so good, 25 days in. This mornings reading came from Genesis 38-40. We are entering the life of Joseph, an amazing man who was used by God to do amazing things. Genesis 39:21 reads,"But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." Here Joseph finds himself at the wrong end of a false accusation, BUT God is still in control. Joseph could have easily tried to dissuade his accuser, BUT he knew that God had a purpose. Joseph could have grown angry with God over the whole situation, BUT he knew that God's hand was still on him. You see, so often we get consumed by the consequence as opposed to being consumed with the Creator. Joseph never lost focus in spite of the place that he found himself in. Regardless of the situation, we need to remember these simple but power words...BUT GOD. I know there have been numerous times those words have leaped off the pages of Scripture an into my mind. BUT, it wasn't until today that I saw just how powerful those words can be. BUT may just be a conjunction that brings two thoughts or ideas together, BUT in the life of the believer it is where the flesh of humanity comes in contact with the Spirit of Deity. BUT GOD is still at work around you. Though you may not be able to see it because you are blinded by circumstance, never lose faith that you God is at work. Nearly 170 times in Scripture do we see the phrase BUT GOD or some relation to it. We see that God works in the midst of human circumstance. How often do we see that though? I pray that your eyes would be open to the BUT GOD moments, to see His activity that you may give Him glory.

Living a Worthy Life

"[1] I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, [2] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, [3] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit inthe bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. [7] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift." Ephesians 4:1-7 (ESV)

Worthy is defined as having adequate or great merit, character, or value. We are called to live a life that is worthy of Christ. That is, to live a life that has merit as it relates to representing Jesus to the world. So, the question is, how do we go about living a life worthy of Christ. Paul gives us a guideline to follow in Ephesians 4. Paul gives us 6 building blocks or benchmarks with which to judge a worthy life.

Be Completely Humble
Very simply, humility is not being proud or arrogant. Humility is the result of our personal submission to God through Jesus Christ. When we are humble, we no longer seek glory for ourselves, rather, we seek to bring glory to God. Humility is the first step of becoming a follower of Christ just as brining glory to God is the first part of God's will for the life of the follower. We are to humble ourselves in every area of our lives. We must come to the realization that there is nothing I can take credit for. Everything that I have and am comes from God. It is all directly attributable to God's grace and mercy. We must change the way we view things. Apart from God, I am nothing. It was not until He came into my life that I can be used for His glory.

Be Completely Gentle

It here that we are called to kindness. Kindness goes a long way in the world in which we live today. It has been my experience that most people may reject our kindness, but they can't reject it until it has been extended to them. Gentleness is the result of humility. When we submit ourselves to God, we find that we desire the best for others. Up unto this point we have only been concerned for ourselves. When Christ enters our lives, our perspective on ourself and others changes drastically. Our charge for live is to serve and not be served. Our kindness is the result of Christ's work in our life and has a magnetic pull on the lives of others. Our expressions of kindness draw others to Christ. We msut also understand that gentleness is not a sign of weakness. Jesus was gently but you would be hard pressed to call Him weak. There are times that the most gentle thing we can do is speak the honest truth to someone.

Be Patient

Patience is an expression of calm without complaint. Patience results from humility and gentleness. We are so time-bound. Stepen Covey talks about us being "slaves to the tyranny of the urgent." What we must understand is that when we surrender our lives to Christ, we have not timetable. It ceases to be about us and becomes about others. We seek God's best in God's time. That may come in minutes or it may take months, either way we are content (Phil. 4:11). Here is what we need to get: The circumstances may not be ideal, but we know tht God is in control and has a plan. We must NEVER FORGET this!

Be Forbearing

Notice this says forbearing and not overbearing. We are to bear up with others. A better way of looking at this is to bear up with difficult people or circumstances. This the personal side of patience. This is being patient with other people. It also is being calm in the midst of the storms of life. Remember what God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient." When we rest in the sufficiency of God's grace we discover patience. What makes patience so difficult is our clash of personality with people. God has uniquely made each one of us with a unique personality that may not always mesh well with others, in the flesh. God has also put His Spirit within us to bear up with people. We find patience when we rely on the Spirit of God within us.

Loving Others

Love is the glue that holds these things together and moves them forward. I Corinthians 13 gives a description of love but also speaks to its attributes. If we have not love then we are nothing and can truly accomplish nothing. If we are going to walk in the Spirit, it is because of love. If we are going to live in obedience to God, it is because of God. It is impossible for us to do anything in the Spirit apartfrom a love for the Father and His people.

Be Unifiers not Dividers

Paul exhorts us to make every effort to build and maintain unity among the body. If we are united as a body under the banner of Christ, how much can we accomplish for the Kingdom? So often we are united so long as it lines up with our own personal agendas. When we have a personal agenda, we can be sure that we are not on God's agenda. We have become too focused on our part of the body as opposed to the Body as a whole. We must remember that we are ONE. Unity is the culmination of all of these things mentioned thus far working together.

Grace that is Given

It is love that binds us together but it is grace that draws us together. We it not for the grace of God, we would never acheive anything for His Kingdom. The reason is that apart from God's grace we would be too busy building our own kingdoms instead of His. Grace is completely undeserved but absolutely needed. Man longs for grace, for it it there that he truly finds his purpose and belonging.

Looking Back

I've been intending to follow up on my last post of a few weeks ago and then realized today that it was few months ago. Time has flown by this Fall. I've been working on getting my notes together on the series that I had taught on over the summer on Radical Discipleship. My plan is to take a little time from now to the end of the year writing more extensively about this subject. I feel it is the key that is missing to many of our churches today. For those of you who have been patiently waiting, thank you. Hopefully you will find this series refreshing and challenging all the same. My aim is to help you set some personal goals for your spiritual life for the coming year. Make 2011 the Year of the Disciple.

Where I've Been

I've taken a pretty serious break from writing over the past few months. Part of it was due to a busy summer schedule. Part of it was due to the fact that I was empty. I had nothing to say or anything worth saying. Over the summer, God has taught me some very meaningful lessons, the greatest of which is what a disciple truly is. That is not to say that God gave me any special knowledge. He did, however, open my eyes to the biblical description of a disciple. Over the summer and even now have been reading books dealing with discipleship. I began by reading David Platt's book Radical. Honestly, this is the best book that I have read in a long time. It challenged me to my core and has caused me to really reconsider the way that I live my life for Christ. Platt draws from Deitrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. This book is a classic, so naturally, I read it (a second time). Bonhoeffer wrote during World War II in Nazi Germany, but it might as well have been written last week. It is rare that we look at what it costs us to follow Jesus. The truth of the matter may be that we have looked at the cost of following Jesus and have decided to leave well enough alone. Cost of Discipleship is worth the price of the book for the first chapter alone, in which Bonhoeffer talks about cheap and costly grace. However, the sections on the Sermon on the Mount will keep you engaged. These two books together have made such a deep impression upon me that I needed and wanted more. Currently I am reading Dallas Willard's The Great Omission, in which he discusses the lace of disciple-making in the modern, American church. We have done a good job at evangelism but have missed the mark on discipleship. Over the next several posts, I will be discussing what I call Radical Discipleship. These discussions come from a series of messages that I preached on Sunday evenings this summer. We will be looking at what a Radical Disciple is and what a Radical Disciple does. I hope that you will join me on this journey as we crash into the life of a disciple.

When God's People Pray

This past week I heard one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. It was not the first time I had ever heard this sound, but the first time that I recognized it anew. It was the sound of God's people praying. It was like a concert for the soul. To hear people expressing their faith in God and trusting Him for healing is an amazing and challenging thing. To hear this concert of prayer was like hearing the most talented symphony in concert. It was truly the sound of Heaven on earth. It is amazing what we can hear when we slow down to listen.

"I Will Be Your Server Today"

If you've been to a restaurant anytime in the past decade, this is how your server (formerly known as your waiter/waitress) addresses you. It is their job to make sure that you are served the things you order and make sure that your needs and wants are taken care of. They are in the "service" industry. Service is something that I take a hard look at, mostly because I come into contact with the service industry quite a bit. There is this elusive thing called "Customer Service". It is like the Loch Ness Monster of the service world. You are usually met on the customer service hot line with a recorded voice that instructs you to choose from several options. When you finally reach a "real" person, though, there is not much service of the customer going on. I usually hear nothing but the company line. The customer service person is not really there to help me but to help their company. This frustrates me a little. Can you tell? Jesus says in Matthew 20:28 that He came to serve and not be served. Now that's a novel concept and one that I thing the church would do well in adopting. This past Saturday, our church had 26 people doing community service projects around our town. We also had some folks from the Methodist church and another Baptist church helping too. You know, I never once heard someone complain about having to paint something, wash something, clean something or pick up something. There was a common goal to serve the people of our community in a visible and viable way. Most people of the community did not know who was doing the work, just that the work was getting done. Isn't that the true heart of service. Service is meeting the needs of people in a joyful way so as to improve and impact their lives. It is putting the needs of others above your own needs. It is helping others without the need of recognition. That is at the heart of service. So...whom will you serve today?