Seeing The World From The Bottom Up

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When [Jesus] noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable:
"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.
If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.
But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Luke 14:7-14



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Becoming The Poor

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"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30



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Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men

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In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

There are certainly pockets of resistance, but in large part the Western Church is mired in mediocrity and lukewarmness. There is little fire to publicly live the Gospel in demonstration of God’s loving power. Much of the Western Church - institutional, house and para - has left the prison house of sin and bondage only to be imprisoned yet again, and more desperately so, in a prison house of religion.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
“Follow Me.”

Not “Receive Me as Lord, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Not “Go to church, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Not “Pay your tithes, and I will make you fishers of men.”

All of the above are absolutely necessary, but they have nothing to do with being fishers of men. To be a fisher of men, you have to follow Jesus.

The word “follow” in this verse is not translated as “follow” anywhere else in the Bible. It is unique to this verse. In this verse, the word “follow” is a combination of two separate Greek words; deute which means come here! (the exclamation point is literally there) and opiso which means to the back.

Jesus was saying “Come here to My back!” emphatically and urgently. With an exclamation point, even. Again, Jesus wasn’t talking about getting “religious.” He was talking about a life-changing, intense turn toward Him.

Many Christians simply do not follow Christ. They show up on Sunday. Some “feel” God and some don’t. But with many, any effect from that church service has worn off by about Monday noon, if not Sunday afternoon.

Feelings aren’t the point. Following Jesus isn’t about following good-feeling emotions. Following Jesus is about following Him in spite of overwhelmingly negative emotions.

Peter followed Jesus, and look what Jesus said to him just before He ascended. In John 21:18, Jesus says....... (Click on the "Read More!" link below)“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”

In today’s English, Jesus was saying: “When you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted to go. But when you become mature [follow Me alone], you will stretch out your hands and I will dress you, and take you places where you don’t want to go.”

As harsh as this may sound to some, this is what it means to follow Jesus. To throw away not only the living of one’s life in this world. but to throw away the perception of one’s life in this world. You see, it is our fleshly perception of and fleshly love for this temporary, earthly life that seeks to trick us, and trap us, and hinder us, and if possible even prevent us from following Christ.

But we must crucify that fleshly love of our lives in this world. This is what Jesus instructed us to do. In Galatians 5:24, the Word of God tells us that .....“they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” In Mark 8:35, Jesus says, “For whosoever will save his life [in this world] shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it [eternal life].” And again in John 12:25, Jesus says, “He that loveth his life [in this world] shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”

..........all that we may gain Life. Zoe life. God’s eternal Life.

So we see then that it is only when we “throw away” this temporary, earthly life that we can truly follow Jesus.

This is a main reason why much of the church is not fishing effectively, and has lost its spiritual vibrancy. Too many of us are not following Christ.

Following Christ means letting Him dress us - letting Him determine how we look on the outside to other people.........and You’ll remember that Jesus made Himself of no reputation (Philippians 2:7), so watch out! He probably won’t be aiming to make us look “good,” either.

And, following Jesus means going where He says to go and doing what He says to do there - no matter what the consequence - even at the expense of our very lives (Revelation 12:11).

Even when, and especially when, we’re “fishing.”

“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”
Luke 5:4-11



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Sheath A Sword, Heal An Ear

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In Revelation 13, the Word of God describes the rise of the beast and his power throughout the world. Revelation 13:7-10 tells us:

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Verse 7 shows us that the beast will be given power, with God’s approval, to make war against and to overcome the saints (meaning to capture and execute them for their faith in Christ Jesus).

Verse 8 tells us that, some believe because of the great fear that this will instill in the people in the world, they will worship him, the beast.

Then, in Verse 9, God says something that should always make our ears stand up when we read it in God’s Word. If any man have an ear, let him hear.

Even when Jesus preached, and when He preached the very deepest spiritual concepts, He would say the same thing - If any man have an ear, let him hear. The Apostle Paul did the same thing after Him, preaching the deeper spiritual things of God, saying I speak as to wise men.....

If any man have an ear, let him hear tells us that what is about to be said can only be understood through the Holy Spirit......in other words, with spiritual ears. So, let’s listen carefully. (Click on the "Read More!" link below)


Based upon what is shared in Verse 7, He says He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Quite simply put, God is saying that, in the midst of this great attack against the Body of Christ, we are not to take any attacker captive, and we are not to kill any attacker. In fact, He is stating that, in the last days, this non-violent approach toward enemies and adversaries - even as they may be killing us - is a sign of the true saints.

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, He says. Here is the patience, meaning “cheerful or hopeful endurance” through (via the root) “staying under” the mighty hand of God.

Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, He says. Here is the faith, meaning “specifically, reliance upon Christ for salvation.”

These are those who know that they are saved through Christ Jesus and have learned to stay beneath God’s protecting hand to their very last breath. They have learned that they are not to rise up with force against the beast and their enemies and their adversaries, even if it may be in their last moments on earth.

We need only look to Christ’s very own life for the confirmation of the words written here.

In Matthew 26:47-54, God’s Word says:

47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus and took him.
51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

In Verses 51 and 52, the correlation between this passage and the aforementioned passage in Revelation is quite clear. One who was with Jesus seeks to protect through physical force the literal body of Christ, and attacks the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear. Jesus’ immediate response is two-fold and telling.

First, Jesus said unto his follower who attacked the servant Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword, the exact same statement made in Revelation.

But secondly, we see Jesus do something magnificent in Luke’s account of the very same events, in Luke 22:51:

51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

“Just let me do this”, Jesus asks the very soldiers who will lead Him to His trial and eventual death. And He reaches out and heals the ear of the high priest’s servant.

Then, in Verses 53 and 54, Jesus again turns to His follower who attacked the high priest’s servant and says:

53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

The point here is clear. God could have saved Jesus, but He chose not to because His will was that a greater good that would be accomplished through Jesus’ death. You see, Jesus HAD eternal life! And so do we.

Jesus knew, and we now know that when we “die,” God’s Word promises that we will spend eternity with Him. But there are many around us who, if they died today, would spend eternity in hell and the lake of fire.

Do you think that the high priest’s servant knew that Jesus was something special? You bet he did. Ears don’t just heal themselves, do they? And everyone who saw that miracle knew that Jesus was special, too. Everyone there who might have “had ears to hear” now had the chance to live another day and possibly becoem His disciple.

Because Jesus didn’t fight back and attack, because He didn’t call down angels to destroy His attackers, but rather He reached out to heal His attackers, accepting that His own death was God’s perfect will......others lived another day to have another opportunity to receive eternal life.

We must come to understand our own attackers, enemies and adversaries in the same manner in these last days. We have eternal life. Many of them do not. And we must seek to manifest the love of God like Jesus did, even toward those who would ultimately kill us.

A note in closing:

The Lord led me to share what I have shared here with my two sons, then ages 4 and 5. Every day, they would ask me to share the same story again, soaking in the wonder of Jesus’ love for mankind, even in the face of a horrible death.

Some time after I had begun sharing this with them, my sons and I were discussing the meaning of “trespassing” on someone else’s property. They asked if someone who might come into the downstairs of our home in the middle of the night would be punished with a jail sentence, to which I responded “probably."

My youngest son was thoughtful for a few minutes. Then he said, “If some bad men came into our house in the middle of the night, I would come downstairs and ask them to please leave."

My instinct was to say “Well, son, you should let Daddy take care of that so you will remain safe." But something just told me I should do otherwise, and I instead asked him, “Why, son?"

“Well, Dad”, heh said, “I would ask them to leave right away before the policemen come so they don’t have to go to jail."

You see, my young son got it. He understood the heart of Jesus in all of this. There is eternal life, and eternal “jail," and our desire to see everyone escape that horrible sentence and enter into eternal life must supercede all concerns - even ourselves.

With a constant awareness of eternity, we will be able to sheath the sword of vengeance and extend the hand of healing, because our own lives have already been saved - by Christ.

The Nuisance

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We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat our son in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly eating and talking. Suddenly, our son squealed with glee and said, “Hi there.” He pounded his fat baby hands on the highchair tray. His eyes were wide with excitement and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin. He wriggled and giggled with glee.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man with a tattered rag of a coat, dirty, greasy and worn. His pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. “Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,” the man said to our son.

My husband and I exchanged looks, “What do we do?” (Click on the "Read More!" link below) our son continued to laugh and answer, “Hi, hi there.” Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby.

Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, “Do ya know patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo.” Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence, all except for our son, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. “Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or our son,” I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, our son leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby’s “pick-me-up” position. Before I could stop him, our son had propelled himself from my arms to the man’s. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship. Our son in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder.

The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor-gently, so gently, cradled my baby’s bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled our son in his arms for a moment, and then his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, “You take care of this baby.” Somehow I managed, “I will,” from a throat that contained a stone. He pried our son from his chest-unwillingly, longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, “God bless you, ma’am, you’ve given me my Christmas gift.”

With our son in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding our son so tightly, and why I was saying, “My God, my God, forgive me.” I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking “Are you willing to share your son for a moment?” when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, “To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become as little children.”

Author Unknown

[A nod of the head and a quiet smile to sunshine for life for first making us aware of this writing.]

And Blossom As The Rose

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Isaiah 35

1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.



(Click on the "Read More!" link below)

3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:

10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Unlikely Candidates

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In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was confronted with a dilemma. The North was not having a great time of it in the civil war. Lincoln had over 200 senior-level generals at his disposal, but only one - a flawed alcoholic named Ulysses S. Grant - was winning battles.

And so, Lincoln did something that many of his aides could not conceive of doing; he appointed Grant the senior general of the North's forces in the Civil War. It is said that when one aide approached President Lincoln and expressed concern about Grant's ability to lead the North's forces in light of his alcoholism, Lincoln replied, "Find our what brand he drinks and send a barrel to all our other generals."



Lincoln you see, was almost as practical as he was Christian. It is true that Lincoln's primary reason for wanting to stop slavery was to preserve the union of the states, but his foundational intention behind that very reasoning was profoundly Christian. Lincoln knew that if the unity of the states, much like the unity of the Body of Christ, were to be destroyed, Christianity would have little chance of existing or prospering in any faction that remained.

In spite of Grant's alcoholism and numerous other personal flaws, the profoundly prayerful President Abraham Lincoln sensed that Ulysses S. Grant was the right man for the job. Talk about choosing an unlikely candidate. Would we have made the same decision were we in his place?

It's Not So Strange, Biblically Speaking
When the Baby Jesus was born, one would think that the high priest of Israel would have wanted to be present. He didn't. One would think that the nation of Israel would have come in droves to worship a Messiah for whom they had prayed so long. They didn't. One would think there would be at least one prophet whom God would call to be present with that most special little boy. There wasn't.

Instead, God brought three "magis,” interpreted in some versions of the Bible as "wise men" for convenient reasons. The term "magis,” after all, is the root of the English word "magicians" and in translated in the New Testament's original Greek language as, in essence, "sooth sayers." We can understand why the translators might have chosen to substitute the term "wise men" instead, can't we? I mean, why would God have three heathen magis be the ones who were sent to welcome and first worship the new-born Messiah?

The reason rests in the fact that, while it is true that Jesus was being sent to the Jews, it is also true that He - after His coming rejection by his own people, the Jews - was actually and ultimately being sent to the heathens (me and you), as well as to them. That's why it was the heathens who were called, showed up at his birth, and proclaimed it thereafter.

Consider, too, the nature of most of the apostles when they were first called. They were a motley crew to say the very least. The only one out of the bunch who even seemed qualified and "normal" was - you guessed it - Judas Iscariot. So, throughout His Word, God has used "unlikely candidates" to do His work, even when it came to proclaiming the birth of His only begotten Son.

God's Recruiting Style
Where I live in the US, I work with a non-profit organization that provides food and personal care items. We provide for the needs of poor and disadvantaged people in our county and surrounding areas, and even internationally. Recently, our need for additional staff has grown dramatically.

Something of which the current staff is all aware is that many of the people who now work there first showed up in the strangest ways. Our staff list, including myself and the CEO, are the embodiment of the term "unlikely candidates." Everyone we know would agree that a bunch of people like us could have never done what's been done there. And it's true. We didn't. God called whom He wanted to work there. And then He did it.

So, as we sensed the need for additional staff, a natural thought might be for us to contact local churches for people who might be interested in serving at the non-profit. In spite of the fact that she had a list of churches and pastors to call, however, the personal assistant to the non-profit's CEO didn't call. It didn't feel right in her Spirit. At the very same time, I was in prayer, and God was telling me something wonderful and exciting.

He said, "Don't beat the bushes at the churches to find the people you need to help there. If they are there, they will come of there own accord as led by Me. But there are others whom you and the CEO and the personal assistant might not even recognize if I had not spoken this to you. I will bring them to you as you wait upon Me, and you will recognize that I have sent them. Know this, they are "unlikely candidates." Some of them are not even saved."

Not even saved? Get a load of our God. He's still using unlikely candidates.

Something New
Many of you reading this know in your Spirits that something "new" is coming. Just as God needed to use unlikely candidates when Jesus brought something new to this world, God is preparing to use unlikely candidates to do the next "new" thing He has purposed.

Call it whatever you like. People use all kinds of terms, accurate or not. An "outpouring." A "revival." A "move of God." Or maybe we should just call it what it may be and hopefully will be - a wave of many people turning their lives and souls over to God through Christ Jesus. Something "new" is coming. And yet it is something that happened before.

From Where Will It Come?
Doesn’t it seem unlikely that the coming "move of God" will come from within or out of any denominations or non-denominations that are lifeless, just as it did not in Jesus' day? The move of God in Jesus' day happened in spite of any denominations or non-denominations of that day that were lifeless, and in some cases in spite of bitter opposition from them.

Doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" will come from out of the very place to which Jesus instructed His followers to go and love and teach and reap. Not in the temple building made with hands, not within that glorious structure of beauty in which God was not abiding. Not in the likely places, and not among the likely candidates. He told us where we will find the unlikely candidates, and so isn't it likely that this is where the coming "move of God" will begin?

12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luke 14:12-14

Doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" - whatever it may be - will begin and spring forth amidst the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind?

16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:16-23

Again - doesn’t it seem more likely that the coming "move of God" - whatever it may be - will begin and spring forth amidst the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind? We will not often find them in our churches, but rather in the streets and lanes of the city, in the highways and the hedges. Jesus didn't invite people to church.

He went and found them where they were, as they were...Unlikely candidates found in unlikely places.

And so let us, as former unlikely candidates whom Christ found in unlikely places, share with one another so that we can learn and grow together in Christ Jesus. Let us encourage and exhort one another to strike out for destinations sometimes unknown to us, but where we will find Christ abiding among the lost. Let us help one another in love. We need each other.

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don't need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don't need you!”
22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
1 Corinthians 12:12-26

In Christ alone.

Insinuations

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The author of "Insinuations" says that it speaks to how we as Christians sometimes "go through the motions of kindness, while not loving and accepting the way that Jesus did."

There are many people both outside and within the Church that are desperately attempting to make a connection with us as the people that are the Church.

It is good for us to remember that their hearts and lives - like our own - are fragile, and that we should handle them with care.

As you read this compelling writing, written from the standpoint of someone seeking to be both accepted and loved by the Church, consider God's own words to us all:

Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).
1 John 3:18

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You think it's hard to deal with me.

What you don't understand is it's hard to depend on you.

Knowing I'm accepted, not wanted.

You've never been in this position, and you never will.

I come and I go still feeling alone.

If home is where the heart is, I have yet to find my heart.

When I leave will all be solved?

If it were so, I would not have stuck around this long.

I push myself away from you.

Because if I come too close my soul might be exposed.

And we wouldn't want that.

You might find I'm real and I hurt and I'm not made of stone.

If fact, I cry. Quite often.

But it's not for you to hear, it's for me to know. To do. To experience.

So I suppose... Let's stay this way.

Never finding out what might happen if we accept one another.

Jesus said to love. And then He died.

He didn't say "Love them if they're different and unsure."

It was only insinuated.

A Sam's Club Kind of Faith Community

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I was shaving this morning and thanking God for a little thing. I was thanking Him that I had discovered that, while I would have to pay upwards of $8.00 for 4 razor blades for my shaver, I could buy 20 blades at Sam's Club for about $30.00. That's 25% less! I get more, and it costs me less.

Different Kinds of Stuff, And Lots Of It
People love Sam's Club because you can find almost anything you'd want to buy at their giant, sprawling stores. You can get a lot of different kinds of stuff there, and whatever kind of stuff you'd like to get, you can get a lot of it.

When you've been shopping in a regular grocery, Sam's Club overwhelms you. From floor to ceiling, from side to side as far as you can see, there's beautiful stuff everywhere. You know the way you feel the first time you walk into a Catholic cathedral? That's how people in the world feel when they walk into a Sam's Club for the first time. Complete, speechless awe.

You see, satan binds people by offering them temporary escape from their problems with a false form of comfort that’s always running out. That false form of comfort might be alcohol or drugs or sex or soap operas or football games or biting their nails. The effects are always temporary, and the supply always runs out. People who trust in a false form of comfort are always wanting and needing.

As believers, though, we should walk out of every encounter with Christ saying what people who are shopping at Sam’s Club sometimes do. "How in the world am I going to use all this stuff?"

And that's the point. We can't use all of what He's given us for ourselves. It's too much. It's too big. From the floor to the ceiling of our hearts, from side to side of our lives as far as you can see, there's beautiful stuff everywhere.

"How in the world are we going to use all this stuff?" By giving it away to a needy world.

.....At A Lower Cost
People also love Sam's Club because you pay less there. Since Sam's Club is so big, they can buy everything at a lower cost, and pass on the savings to the customers they serve.

In Revelation 3:18, Jesus tells the Laodicean church, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Jesus is our storehouse. We can buy wondrous things from Him - big things - at a much lower price than weight and sin will extract from us. And it's not just so we'll be blessed. It's so that we may pass these blessings on to others.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

On a physical level, consumers at Sam's Club and - on a spiritual level - the lost in this world are concerned with the "cost of living."

On a physical level, Sam's Club and - on a spiritual level - much of the church today is sometimes concerned with the "cost of giving."

This is an important understanding for believers, because our attitude about giving reflects what we perceive to be "the cost of giving." If we are consumed with what we perceive to be an endless struggle through life, in spite of our Christianity, we will eventually become bitter and resentful toward those in need. What's more, we'll not be able to spiritually recognize just how much God has given and is giving to us. We won't be able to see that daily He has loaded us with blessings.

You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
Hebrews 10:34-35

And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: ‘He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little‘;
2 Corinthians 8:10-15

The bottom line is that when we daily comprehend and joy in the great blessings we have received from God at a price to us that is so low, we will be able to "pass on the savings" to others.

Free Gifts
Another reason that people love Sam's Club is because there are people standing around all over the place giving you free samples of stuff. Not expensive stuff, but neat stuff or tasty stuff. And it's cool because it's all free.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Romans 8:32

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:8

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
Acts 3:6

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Matthew 10:7-8

We in the church may not have silver and gold, but that's not what people are really looking for, either. We do have what people are really looking for; peace with God through salvation in Christ Jesus. We have comfort. We have joy. We have hope.

When people come to church, wouldn't it be wonderful if they saw people standing around all over the place giving you free samples of that kind of stuff? Neat stuff or tasty stuff. And it would be really cool, because it was all free.

Try It For Free!
At Sam's Club, anyone can get a free membership for a day. That means they treat you like a real member for the day that you're visiting. It doesn't matter how you're dressed or how you talk or what side of town you're from; anyone can be treated like a full-fledged member on the day they're visiting. The employees are really nice to you, too, and you walk around the place in wonder, thinking, "Wow, I would love to be able to be a member and come here all the time. There's so much neat and tasty stuff here, it's stacked up so wide and so tall, it's everywhere! And everyone is so nice and helpful."

So that servant came, and [told] his lord [that all whom He had at first invited to His supper had refused]. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Luke 14:21-23

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 13:34-35

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.
John 12:32

When people come to church, wouldn't it be wonderful if they felt as though they were loved like a full-fledged member and not just as a visitor? Imagine those people visiting church and receiving all that neat stuff and tasty stuff from people that really seemed to love them and each other.

The Best of Both Kinds.....
Our churches are not meant to be a bunch of isolated, independent Mom and Pop corner stores. Mom and Pop corner stores are nice because you know the people that work and shop there. It's comfortable and familiar.

But there's a lot of stuff that you can't get at a Mom and Pop corner store that you can get at Sam’s Club.

I think that Jesus would like us to understand that instead of our churches being isolated, independent Mom and Pop corner stores in our town, we are actually like different departments in a Godly Sam's Club.

Each department offers something different, and lots of it, at a great price. Some people will tend to shop more in certain departments, but at some point we all will venture into every department in this Godly Sam's Club and be able to experience the loving wonder of His blessings and the loving touch of His people who work there.

If the leadership and management of Sam's Club could ever their stores to feel like a Mom and Pop corner store, no one would ever shop anywhere else again.

When people come to church, wouldn't it be wonderful if they experienced the intimacy of our welcoming love, coupled with the wonder of God's storehouse of blessings? That would give our Godly Sam's Club the intimate, friendly feel of a Mom and Pop corner store. And if that were the case, it's hard to imagine people in the world ever wanting to "shop" anywhere else again.

It's A Good Thing To Be Unpopular With satan
Now, when a Sam's Club moves into a community, there is sometimes a great outcry against it. It comes from Mom and Pop corner stores who claim (and rightfully so) that Sam's Club will eventually draw everyone away from their own stores. They claim that, because of Sam's Club's ability to provide more to people at a lower cost, people will eventually completely abandon Mom and Pop corner stores and they will forced to close.

While this might be bad news in the business world, it is great news in the spiritual world. The writing is on the wall for Mom and Pop churches that have chosen to be isolated and independent from the rest of God‘s people and the world of the lost. }

God is bringing together His people to manifest the oneness that He gave them through His Holy Spirit through whatever means necessary; gently as possible, firmly as needed.

God is building a Sam's Club that feels like a Mom and Pop store.

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22

satan is scared of this. satan doesn't want a Godly Sam's Club that feels like a Mom and Pop store. He doesn't want that kind of a manifestation and demonstration of God's great blessings or our great love. It was the same way with satan and his followers in the days of Acts.

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto
them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Acts 17:2-6

When Paul preached Christ, it turned the world upside down. When Paul preached Christ, Jews, Greeks and many important women believed on Him. As we learn Christ, live Christ and preach Christ it will be the same. Through God's Holy Spirit, many different peoples will be transformed into one Body by one Christ.

In Closing
So, yes, there will be opposition, but it spite of that opposition God will bring many souls to Himself and transform them. What's the right way to handle opposition?

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
Acts 4:29-30

Notice how it was okay for the disciples in this passage to ask God to be aware of the great opposition that was facing them. But, having done that, they then turned their attention to where it should be; upon God and upon those in need.

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable Your servants to speak Your word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.

Focusing too much on opposition makes everything about "us." And it's not about us anymore. It's about God, and it's about those who are still without Christ, broken and hurting and without hope. It's about them. So we must acknowledge that opposition is imminent and ask for God's help, but then turn to God for His unmerited favor that we might stretch forth His hand to the world.

In turning my own eyes away from myself and toward the lost, I am asking myself a question and answering it with the only answer I can give:

Do I think the world is ready to receive big blessings from God at a low price ("For my yoke is easy, and My burden is light"), in an awe-inspiring storehouse of God that feels like a Mom and Pop store, surrounded by welcoming people that pour out their sincere love for them and each other?

"Welcome to Sam's Club. How may I help you today?

A Relationship With Them

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In my dream, I was standing in the expansive lobby of an enormous office building in a major U.S. city.

It was night time, and the office building was closed and deserted except for a small group of people standing in the darkened lobby, of whom I was one.

There were no street lights outside the building, and there was a very pale, barely visible blue light on the inside of the building. The building's windows which were facing the street were 20-30 feet wide and 30-40 feet tall. In the middle of this span of windows was one that would slide open to a width of 10-15 feet to provide the entrance to the building. It was closed and secured.

Although I could not see them, I heard a small group of people around me talking about something. Somehow, I knew that they were professing Christians. As I listened to them speak, I sensed a fearful, strident tone to their voices. They were speaking over one another and the focus of their conversation, I realized, was a small group of men who were standing in the darkness just outside of the front windows of the building.

There were 8 or 9 men, shadowy figures milling about nervously near the secured front entrance. I heard the people with me say that these men were "menacing," and they wanted to do something about them.

At that moment, I looked down and saw a sledgehammer in my hands. It was different, though, in that the sledgehammer was made completely out of wood. The head was wood as well as the handle.

Now stirred up and apprehensive from having listened to the incessant speaking of the small group of people with whom I was standing, I joined them as we - with hearts pounding - proceeded to slowly cross the lobby of the building and approach the sliding front door. We were "going to do something about these men."

Suddenly, as we were approaching the sliding front door, it unexpectedly opened to a width of just 4 or 5 feet. The group of people with whom I was advancing froze in fear, not knowing what would happen next, and fearing what the men outside might do now that the door was open.

As we stood staring at the men outside, they hesistantly - one by one - slowly and fearfully approached the small opening in the sliding door and gently tossed a bouquet of roses on the floor of the lobby, just inside the opening of the door. One by one they came, dropped their flowers on the floor, and then retreated back to the dimness.

That was my dream.

I asked our Lord what the dream meant, and this is what He told me:

The lobby of the office building was the Church at large. The people there with me were, as I had suspected, those who professed to be Christians.

Our Lord drew my attention to the great darkness outside of the building (the Church), and to the fact that the light (the dim blue light) inside of the building (Church) was barely more light than the darkness outside of it.

He then spoke of the sledgehammer - made completely out of wood - that I had seen in my hands. "There were other weapons in the hands of those with you that you did not see in the dream," He said. "These weapons were made of hay and stubble." I knew that our Lord was referring to 1 Corinthians 3:10(b)-13, which says:

But each one should be careful how he builds.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,
his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.

I asked our Lord, "But who were the men that we feared so much in the dream, and why were they tossing bouquets of roses on the floor for us?"

Our Lord said that the men were homosexuals, and that they were throwing bouquets on the floor because they wanted the love of the people in the Church at large. And then He spoke words that He wanted me to share with me and with everyone in that Church at large, words that broke my heart.

"They want a relationship with you, more than you want a relationship with them."

Aliens and Strangers

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It was undoubtedly the most unusual gig I have ever been involved in as a musician. Early on in my career as a cellist for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, in order to pad my meager income, I learned to say yes to just about every opportunity for an extra job that came along. Performing for private parties, weddings, churches, and political events became a common occurrence. But this particular job was truly unique. Three other symphony musicians and I, along with two members of a local dance troupe, had developed a program geared toward introducing grade school children to the wonderful world of the performing arts. We had been well received in many local schools and our schedule was rapidly filling up with requests for our program. One such request came from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Some brilliant bureaucrat had decided that Arizona's "culturally starving" Native Americans (aside from the fact that they were also physically starving) needed to be exposed to classical music and interpretive dance. It seemed like a ridiculous idea to us but hungry musicians are not in a position to question the sanity of anyone offering a paycheck. Consequently, a few weeks later we found ourselves on an adventure that would take us to what is perhaps the most remote village in the lower 48 states, the community of Supai on the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

After an early morning car trip that included a two-hour drive over a dusty, deeply rutted, badly weathered dirt road, we reached Hualapai Hilltop, the starting point for our descent into the canyon. The only two ways into this remote area were on foot or by horseback. We chose the latter, although in a few hours I would have given anything for a chance to make another choice. Our Native American guides met us at the top of the canyon with our horses for the journey and a pack of mules to carry our suitcases, sleeping bags, and (gulp) our musical instruments. I watched in horror as these seasoned pack guides strapped my cello to the side of a mule and proceeded on down the narrow, twisting, cliff-hanging trail. Silently I prayed for the safety of my instrument and the sure-footedness of that mule. I learned later that my cello survived the trip in far better shape than I did.

Then it was our turn. Climbing onto our horses in the midst of that desolate wilderness it was easy to imagine ourselves on an Old West adventure. We were cowboys in tennis shoes, pioneers in sunglasses, intrepid explorers in baseball caps on a dangerous quest to seek out new civilizations. It didn't take long, however, for our imaginations to be quelled by our growing (or should I say groin) pain. I soon learned there is only one thing worse than a city-slicker’s rear-end on a long horseback ride. That is when the ride is decidedly downhill and with every step of the horse one’s delicate derriere slides forward into the saddle-horn. I gained an entirely new appreciation for the term "rawhide."

After three hours of riding in the hot sun through jagged rock formations and extreme wilderness, we rounded a bend in the trail and suddenly found ourselves in the Garden of Eden. Lush green trees, multi-colored wildflowers, and a thick carpet of grass lined the trail. Meandering through this paradise was a crystal clear stream of turquoise colored water. It was all stunningly beautiful. I was reminded of the meaning of the name Havasupai, "Blue-Green Water People," and I began to envy those who called this place home.

Later that evening the villagers gathered together in an ancient, rustic meeting house to hear a group of white strangers making strange sounds with their strange music boxes. Our music was politely received but I could tell these people had no comprehension of what we were doing. Classical music could not have been more out of place in that setting. I would have felt totally foolish were it not for our two dancers. They were the hit of the program. Although ballet steps were completely foreign to their culture, these isolated Native Americans understood the art of the dance.

After our program they insisted on showing us their steps. Quickly a pair of drums appeared and two elderly gentlemen began beating a simple pattern. Others began chanting a mournful melody while several children danced together across the wooden floor of their tribal meeting house. We were soon accompanying them by improvising rhythm and notes on our instruments while our two dancers tried, amidst the giggles of delighted children, to pick up on their intricate footwork. It was a magical moment I will never forget. Rhythm and dance had managed to bridge the gap between two cultures. I remember thinking on my way out of the canyon the following day (with my foam rubber mattress pad cushioning the impact between the saddle and my smarting backside), "How could anyone call these people culturally starved?" Indeed, those thought to be impoverished had fed us all!

I have often thought about that unusual gig in recent years while attempting to take the message of the Gospel to a modern culture which, at times, seems to have no comprehension of what we're doing. To be sure, much of what comprises the typical church program seems to be encased within a culture that is completely foreign to many of our neighbors. Sadly it is the church that all too often has become isolated from the surrounding community. When those outside the faith visit us they feel like aliens in a foreign land. Our music, our programs, our buildings, even our language, all of which seems so normal and so comfortable to us, may in fact be alienating us from the very people we are trying to reach. I'm not advocating that the Church adopt a worldly lifestyle, just one that is more culturally relevant. And I'm certainly not saying we should allow the world's sin to infiltrate the Church. In contrast, we need to learn how to more successfully infiltrate the world.

I believe we need to spend less time criticizing the culture that surrounds us and more time trying to connect with it; less time complaining about the evils of our society and more time trying to bridge the gap that separates us from that society; less time insisting that everyone else conforms to our culture and more time trying to understand theirs. Without compromising our message, we need to learn how to dance to their music. "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." - 1Cor. 9:22.

I don't mean to be a proverbial “pain in the rear-end” nor do I wish to rub you the wrong way with this. I would, however, remind you that as Christians we are the true "aliens and strangers" in this world and we will never feel entirely at home here (see 1Pe. 1:17, 2:11-12). ...our citizenship is in heaven. - Phil 3:20. But one glorious day, after traveling for many miles through this sin-filled, temptation-laden, spiritually-starving, desolate wilderness called Earth, we will round a bend in the trail and suddenly find ourselves in a lush paradise...across a sea of crystal...in a beautiful Garden of Eden...and we will finally be home.

Until that day, anyone care to dance?

The Evangelistic Bride

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Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
1 Peter 3:1-4

God's Word makes it perfectly clear that there is another wife and another husband in His will; another Bride and another Bridegroom; a symbolic, spiritual marriage between the Body of Christ and the Saviour Himself:

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Romans 7:4

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Revelation 19:7-8

So many of us who profess to be disciples of Christ are praying for "revival." We note well-known revivals of the past as we pray for present ones - the Welsh Revival, Azuza Street, Toronto Airport, Brownsville. These revivals have all come, made a great impact, and have gone and, though many have tried to replicate their results by seeking to do exactly the same things as people involved with these revivals, they have never been replicated in such a manner.

This tells us that those events were an out-pouring from heaven sent by God, not something that was produced by man. Will God send down revival like this in the future? It seems reasonable to assume so. But, in that revivals of these types have not produced the great harvest of disciples for which so many are praying in these days, we must ask ourselves a frank question; What will produce the great latter day harvest of disciples for which so many are praying?

In that the Husband and Bridegroom has made it perfectly clear that He desires to pour out a blessing from above, might His bride, the Body of Christ, make note of 1 Peter 3:1-4 as direction on how we must change so that we can serve Him and His missing children as part of His great, latter day harvest?

In Noah's day, the earth was flooded because a 2 things; there was a great out-pouring from heaven, and the wells upon the earth opened up and began sending forth water, as well.

When we read 1 Peter 3:1-4 in light of the Bride, Christ's Body, submitting to our Husband, Christ Jesus, we see a revelation of how the "wells of the earth" can open up to produce a great flood of disciples in these latter days.

When Christ's Body begins to be truly submissive to Christ Jesus, those who do not believe will be won over without words through seeing the purity and reverence for Christ in our lives.

When we, Christ's Body, begin to turn away from the pretty things with which we have adorned the Church in the Western World (be it institutional, house church, or otherwise) in the past - the desire to organize and expand as though building an empire, the rush to be a visible part of the latest Christian "movement," the spiritual, intellectual and monetary arrogance toward our Brethren in the Third World, the slick presentations of His simple, Holy Gospel - and we begin to seek to manifest a gentle and quiet Spirit from within that God considers so valuable, the lost will see Christ Jesus lifted up and turn to Him in great numbers.

In the days of Acts, God's people met in both the temple (today's institutional churches) and in the homes. Because of the purity, reverence, and simplicity of believers in the days immediately after Christ's ascension to be with our Father, there was a place for both of these in the faith community. In much the same way, there is a place for both the vocal proclamation of the Gospel in the temple and from house to house and in the highways and the hedges, and also in the pure, reverent, simple living out of the Gospel in disciples' daily lives.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15)?
Without a doubt.

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15)?
Most assuredly, it is the commandment of Christ Himself.

But these "outward" and "public" ministries must be coupled with the daily, unfeigned, intimate work of the gentle, quiet Spirit of God in the hearts of disciples of Christ.

When all these things - the outward and the inward - begin to take place simultaneously, the lost will respond to evangelism and discipleship as they never have before. When the meek and quiet Spirit of the messengers rightly aligns with the purported promise of the big event, those who who have been desperately searching for a Saviour will be won over to Him without words in greater numbers than ever before.

And whether God accomplishes this by having us use words or not, the end result will be as it should be; He and He alone will receive all the glory.

Nameless, Faceless, and God Gets the Glory.

The Meeting

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Most companies have a weekly meeting. During these meetings, many things are discussed - past, present and future - and many decisions are made that impact both the company and the individuals that make up that company.

These meetings are very important, but no one in their right mind would say that the most important part of the business for IBM, or Microsoft, or McDonald’s was their weekly meetings. That’s ridiculous.

We all know that the most important part of the business for these and all businesses is the development and stewardship of a unique, impacting relationship with their customers.

And yet.......

The Church at large in the Western World today lives as though the weekly meeting is the center of what we do and who we are. The weekly meeting remains the focal point of many of our Western churches today, be they institutional, house church or para-church in nature.

One of the most important, life-changing revelations to the existing Church and new believers alike is the understanding that the most important part of being the Church is daily living out the development and stewardship of unique, impacting relationships with first, the lost, and then other believers. The weekly meetings are important, but they are not meant to be the centerpiece that many of us have made them out to be.

There are many of God’s children who are “missing.” Some are “unsaved,” some are “saved” and wandering, and some are “saved” and wondering. But none of them are truly searching high and low for a really good weekly meeting. None of them think that, if they could just find a really good weekly meeting, the mysterious longing within them for closeness with God would disappear.

They may not know what they’re looking for, but it’s not a meeting. What God’s missing children need is a unique, impacting daily relationship with God and His people. Then and only then will the weekly meeting begin to serve its proper, God-intended purpose in their, and our lives.

Tonight, my family and I will have dinner and spend the evening with a family whom we have recently met. We did not meet them "at church." We met them where Jesus met people - as He lived out His faith in His life. On hillsides, on beaches, on roadsides, in marketplaces, in sinner's homes, Jesus simply lived out His life of faith, and God drew men unto Himself through that simple, transparent, faithful life of Christ.

Tonight, my family and I will have dinner and spend the evening with a family whom we have recently met. We love them. They are special to us. When tonight is done, we will have broken bread, fellowshipped, prayed and received teaching. When tonight is done, we will have invested precious time and will have even then begun to reap precious returns on the development and stewardship of a unique, impacting relationship between our families and our God.

And soon, our two families will come together in a weekly meeting with other families with whom we also are developing and stewarding unique, impacting relationships.

God, Christ, Christianity, evangelism, faith and life are not necessarily as we have been told. They are as God’s Word describes them, and are a stunningly beautiful thing to experience.

Weekly meetings have an importance, but the only place we will experience a life of wholeness is in a daily, growing relationship with God, the lost, and God's children.

“Some of My children are missing. Go and find them. I will lead you.”

More to come......

Missing Children

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"I love You, Jesus."

"I love you. I died so that you would have joy. Some of God's children are missing. Go and find them. I will lead you."

How Noah Felt

I work with a friend of mine and 8 or 9 ministers at a Christ-centered recovery house for men. The house is overseen by a volunteer staff of Serenity's house director, pastoral staff director, house manager and staff pastors and ministers. Many of these men of God credit Christ Jesus for their own complete deliverance from drugs and alcohol. Other Christian men from the community are also actively involved with mentoring the men in the recovery house.

This post is a tremendous encouragement given to us from God during an especially desperate season in this ministry.

It's about how we sometimes feel as Noah must have felt as God was using him to build the ark. Perhaps it will speak to you as God builds what He is building through you.....

While many may see the house as a recovery house, it is actually much more. While the addictions which plague our residents must be effectively and permanently eliminated from their lives, Serenity House does not simply purpose to "get men clean." The purpose of Serenity House is to help men to learn how to live personally, financially, and spiritually responsible lives as men of God and disciples of Jesus Christ.

A two-fold message is going out to the men of Serenity House; that one can see their lives effectively and permanently changed in every way through Christ Jesus, but that we are personally helpless to effectively and permanently succeed in any way outside of Him. By the plain Truth spoken in genuine love, some of the precious men of at this house are hearing, believing and living the understanding that inner peace, liberty, true manhood and eternity lie in Christ Jesus alone.

Operating such a house is a challenge in more ways than I can possibly share here, and yet we see God provide what is needed at every turn. There have been many times when things “looked hopeless,” but God has stepped in every time to bring about His further glory. This process of being taken down to the seeming last day, the seeming last moment of existence of what God had birthed within our hearts and hands at this house has been a purifying, transforming experience.

During one such season, we were down to one man in the house. It didn’t “look” like any more were coming soon, and it “looked” like we might have to close the house. And in the midst of this, God began to pour Himself out through a new manual for the house that had the potential to dramatically improve our outreach. As I sat in the office, the words poured out from God’s Spirit onto my computer screen, and I sat back and marveled at what He had created.

As I sat and rejoiced, a thought struck me.

“What for?”

I mean, it was a bit silly to be filled with joy and gratitude to God when there was only one man in the house and it looked like it might be closing at the end of the month. Yet I was so filled with excitement at what I was seeing before me, considering just how much this could be used by God in transforming men’s lives.

“What for?”

And then our Lord spoke to my Spirit and said, “Now you know how Noah felt.”

You see, my friend and I and a number of the ministers on staff at Serenity are delivered addicts, but none of us are trained drug counselors. God gave us a mission and, in spite of our lack of ability, He has given us the grace to trust His ability to fulfill the mission He gave us. It seems as though many times God has said to my friend and I and the ministers serving at the house, “Now you know how Noah felt.”

This man Noah was called to build an enormous ark. He was not a builder. He was a farmer. He wasn’t a weatherman. He was a righteous man. He had no special credentials other than his faith in God. It had never before rained upon the face of the earth, and yet God said the whole earth would be flooded. Noah had no hope other than his trust in God. The people hated him and mocked him for the 125 years that it took him to build the ark. He had no other encouragement other than the love of God. God speaks to us all as we consider these things, “Now you know how Noah felt.”

Noah was not a missionary. And yet, were it not for Noah and his successfully completed mission to build the ark, we would not be here today. We would not have received the 10 commandments from God through Moses. We would not have received salvation from God through Jesus Christ. Were it not for Noah, we would not have received from God the promises of the New Testament, promises that we see today springing forth in our hearts, in our lives and in our world today. We have come to live in the greatest of days, because an ill-equipped, unprepared, disrespected non-missionary named Noah heard a call from God, and decided to obey Him in spite of all that.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus told Peter in John 21:18, “when you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted to go, but when you become a mature adult in Christ, another will dress you and take you places that you don’t want to go.” When we finally and obediently answer the true call of God upon each of our lives, chances are we won’t want to go there and do the things He‘s called us to do. Chances are, our human nature will want to do otherwise, wanting to avoid that call of God or to leave it up to someone else. God says to us all, “Now you know how Noah felt.”

Noah wasn’t a missionary. He was a everyday, righteous man whom God had called to do something, and he did it. God has called us to the same.

Oh, our mission - if you will - won’t look like everyone else’s on the block. Chances are, it will be a bit odd. Chances are it won’t garner much positive attention or personal praise for us - only glory for God. And chances are, there will be days that - even though we’re assured of our calling by God to that work - spiritually, emotionally and physically we will fall exhausted at the feet of Christ Jesus, pleading for His mercy and the strength, and wisdom and divine grace to carry on for another day. And He will give it to us again and again - He will give it to us - everyday righteous people, like He gave it to Noah.

No matter the different calls that each of us may have upon our lives, they will all lead us to one place - outside of the church walls, out of our comfort zone, out to the uncomfortable places that Jesus called “the highways and the hedges,” to places where the broken, and blind, and rejected people are found.
But we know this......

We can be uncomfortable so that the comfortless can know the Comforter.

No matter the different calls that each of us may have upon our lives, they will all be given to us for one purpose, the same purpose that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. His words to Paul are His words to us:

“Now get up - and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

This is the single purpose of all of our callings from God.

Noah was not a missionary, but he had a special mission given to him from God. So do each and every one of us. And if you’ve not begun work on that which He’s called you to do, or if you’ve stepped back from the work for a moment because of the pain and discouragement that sometimes accompanies it, or if you’ve been considering quitting in the midst of the work, you must know that the time remaining to start or resume and finish God’s work is growing short. You see, Jesus tells of His return, saying, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

These are the days of Noah, my brethren. Look about us. Sin abounds and it gets worse every day. There is no turning back. The end of this world is coming. But God has already provided an ark for this day. Not an ark like Noah built, a man-made vessel of wood. God has prepared a greater ark.......His own Son, Jesus Christ. Our mission from God, our calling from Him, whatever it may be, will find us leading - not animals - but the redeemed souls of men into the refuge of our loving King; safe from the deluge to come, sealed unto eternity within the ark of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus.

Just as God promised Noah that, after the flood there would be a new world beyond the one he had always known, God has promised us a new world beyond this one. In spite of Noah’s own inability, in spite of the rejection of men, in spite of the seeming impossibility of what God had called him to do, Noah believed and he got up - and he stood on his feet. He answered and fulfilled God’s call, as He is calling us to do this day.

What relief, what excitement, what joy unspeakable and full of glory Noah must have felt when he first saw the dry land appear, just as God had promised.

If we believe and obey, in spite of our own inability, in spite of the rejection of men, in spite of the seeming impossibility of what God had called us to do, there will be a day when God’s promise to us comes to pass as well. If we believe and obey, there will be a day when the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and we will all be gathered together with Him to spend life evermore in His presence.

What relief, what excitement, what joy unspeakable and full of glory Noah must have felt when he God’s promise to him come to pass. And on that glorious day when we too behold God’s promise to us come to pass - on that day when we behold His coming with relief, and excitement, and joy unspeakable and full of glory, we will all surely say......“Now I know how Noah felt.”

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Manifesting The Broken Christ

I remember a dear Sister who I know who is in her 80's now, who was always a very active person, always "on the go." She was very strong in her faith. She injured her back and it almost completely incapacitated her for a year.

She later told me that she believed that God had a purpose in everything, and that the time when she was unable to do what she ordinarily did was at first a challenge and then ultimately a blessing. She said she saw God teaching her through that experience, even though she was in her 80s. God is so good.

He is breaking us all, my friends. We must all be broken. Broken before God and broken before man.

Jesus said "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself."


We all know this passage, but recently I was praying over it and the issue of repentance and God breaking His people so that He might use them for His glory.

Our Lord spoke to me about how it was not the "Risen Christ" that needed to be lifted up so that He could draw all men unto Himself. It was the "Broken Christ" that needed to be lifted up.

This is the Christ that we must manifest to the lost. The Risen Christ has no meaning to those who are lost. The Broken Christ is the image which the Holy Spirit uses to convict men of their sin and draw them unto salvation through Christ Jesus.

We must look at the "Broken Christ" upon the cross, God was telling me. We must know what God's Word says He looked like upon the cross, and we must walk as a manifestation of that in this life. Consider:

If they see the Blood of Jesus Christ and its forgiveness for their sin, and see the Water of the Holy Spirit and its Truth that can make them free flowing from within us (Christ's side was pierced and blood and water flowed out), then the lost will see the Broken Christ in us and be drawn unto Him.

If they see our bones laid bare in open repentance for our sin and the flesh being stripped from our lives through that process (Christ looked down from the cross "and could see all His bones" because they had whipped His flesh away), then the lost will see the Broken Christ in us and be drawn unto Him.

If they see the deep agony we sometimes experience, and yet see that we - in the midst of it all - look to our sides to reach out to one who is hoping for salvation in the last moments of their lives (Christ reached out to the thief on the cross beside Him though He was dying, and made sure that Mary was cared for before He gave up the Ghost), then the lost will see the Broken Christ in us and be drawn unto Him.

If they see that we have ceased trying to be of this denomination or that or this house church network or that, have stopped trying to be "church" and start to live and move and breathe as believers only (when they finally hung Christ on the cross, God's Word says that he had been beaten so much that he no longer had any "form")"), then the lost will see the Broken Christ in us and be drawn unto Him.

If they see us stop trying to be a "real church" or a "cool church" or a "popular church" and start to live and move and breathe as believers only (when they finally hung Christ on the cross, God's Word says that he had been beaten so much that He "had no beauty that we should desire Him"), then the lost will see the Broken Christ in us and be drawn unto Him.

There is more, but you get the picture, friends. This has been pressing upon my heart most fervently.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"[a]made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.2 Corinthians 4:5-7 (NIV)

May Christ be lifted up as we are transformed by God's Holy Spirit in our Spirits, minds and bodies, so that the lost will see Christ and His sacrifice for us all upon the cross, and be drawn unto Life in Him.

Do I Want To?

Matthew 8:1 - 3:

When He came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him.

And, behold, there came a leper and bowed down to Him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, You can make me clean".

And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, and said,
"I want to...........".

Becoming a disciple of Christ, purposing to obey Him and to make disciples of all men, committing to do the things Christ taught us to do.....is all about wanting to.

It's not about ability.
It's about AVAIL-ability.
Do I want to?

Even if I don't feel that I am experienced enough?
Do I want to?
Even if I am hurting today and I need a touch from God...
Do I want to?
Even if I will be rejected when I reach out...
Do I want to?
Even if I have never done it before and I'm afraid...
Do I want to?

When the believer Bono first visited Africa with his wife in the mid-1980s, he was transformed by the experience.

"I remember waking up in the mornings and watching mist lift, as tens of thousands of people would be walking," he says. "They would have walked through the night to come and beg for food, to come and leave their children."

"I remember one man, this beautiful man with a beautiful boy, his son. He was so proud. And he came up to me and said, 'Please. Will you take my son? My son will have no life if I look after him. He is sure to die. But if you take him, he is sure to live.' And as [those who minister in Africa] will tell you, you can't do that. You had to say no."

"Well, it's the last time I'm saying no."

Every morning, the mist is lifting before every one of us - regardless of where we live and work - revealing the hopeless masses that surround us. They know who we are, or at least who we profess to be. They are looking us in the eye and calling out for help. The only question is, "Do I want to?"

One by one, there is a petition of Life that we must each sign, or forever turn away from the faith, hope and love that rest in Jesus Christ.

One by one, each of us who have determined to become disciples of Christ must put our name to this declaration of willingness, and then act upon it:

"I want to."