Crank It UP! Hype It Up!

Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

O.k.....
I'm tired....
I'm in a place where I want to stand up and scream..."Isn't Jesus Enough?"
Why all the hype? Why all the exaggerated phrases and terminology?
Why do we feel the need to hype church and Jesus to the point that it becomes embarrassing? 
I see websites and advertising, along with commercials that are just filled by hyperbole and hype, to the point I ask myself, "How can they deliver on what they have just tried to sell to the public?" I remember seeing a church sign that proudly proclaimed "We're the friendliest Church in town!" Really? What does that say about the all the other churches in the community? "Oh, them? Well they are a bunch of froopey-pots who do not love the Lord like we do!"
Now I don't think this particular church really stopped and thought about what their sign said. Maybe that's the problem. We so desperate to "Get our share of the people" we will say and do anything to get them in the door. I think maybe this is not such a good idea.

One of the reasons that I joined the Vineyard was because of their non-hyped approach to church and relationship with Jesus. Everything was kept low key and non hyped because they felt that (1) it was God's church...He would build it if they would be faithful in what He'd called them to do...and (2) Hyping something puts you at great risk for failure and looking foolish. When it happens...the failure and foolish part...then the public who really isn't into church will look and say, "Told you it was all smoke and mirrors". Of course no church goes into the world of hype thinking they are wrong or that it isn't on God's heart to build His church. Well, in my opinion (and that's all it is...an opinion) God doesn't need help to the point that we have blow it all out of proportion as to what He is doing.

John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard movement, wanted a church based on relational reality and not pretense. In the course "Doing Church" from Vineyard Bible Institute, John wrote that the language of the church needs to be real and able to be understood by those who don't attend. Our language, as well as our services need to be free from hype...they need to kept low key. This was not to downplay what God may be doing in the service, but more of a way to keep it real and allow God the freedom to move as He desires. The service should be a vehicle for the message of God to be given, yet at the same time be a place of encouragement to everyone. A place where community (Common-Unity) can be built. A safe place where we learn to hear God and discover for ourselves that we all get to play in the kingdom. Not just the people up front with the microphones. 

One of John's sticking points was information printed by churches that is given out to those who are visiting or looking for a church home. Here are John's words..."Often the mission statement and vision for the church is printed on a 'welcome brochure'. But do not be deceived! What is stated is not always what is experienced. Often what you first see is not what is really going on. It is not what people say, it is what they live that tells you who they are. The same applies to church."

(From VBI Course: DOING CHURCH -  Page 24)
John wanted the Vineyard to always be careful and clarify the underlying assumption when it came to church. He wanted the Vineyard to always use language, concepts, tools or categories that spoke to the person who was on the outside looking in. John would put his own (Biblical) meaning into words or concepts that were part of the everyday world. In other words, because of his philosophy to be relevant, John sought to use words in current usage, but was careful that they communicated what he intended to communicate, in terms of God's truth.

Think of it this way...
What if we hype a meeting....hype our church.....hype our worship and someone visits, only to discover that what we do doesn't match what we have advertised? In that person's eyes, we have lied to them. We have given them one more reason not to go to church. 

Please don't get me wrong in what I'm saying...
I'm not saying don't advertise....don't share your vision about what God is doing in your church, and the direction He may be taking you....I think we all need to communicate these things. But we need to be careful in what we say and how we say it. We need to stand on the outside looking in at our church as if we didn't know a thing about it. If you want to be bold, find someone who isn't going to church and ask them to come and visit and give you the real, unvarnished impression of how you do church. 

My belief has always been that if God is in what you are doing, then you won't have to hype it or build it up. People will see and they will share with others that something is happening at (insert your church name).  After all, isn't that the way Jesus operated. He taught, He demonstrated power to validate the word....and the crowds came. I guess if it's good enough for Jesus...maybe we should take a look at it.

God on you...
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It's All About The Cross

I Corinthians 2:2
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

I have shared on numerous occasions that the verse above is the very foundation of everything I believe, and everything I teach. Life ends at the cross, and life begins at the cross. We trade one way of living for another.

The cross of Christ is the great equalizer as we all stand before it as sinners.
Destined to an eternal separation if we choose to reject God's call to salvation. To be honest with you, the cross has somehow fallen out of favor. Some see this cross as being judgmental and cruel. Some see it a divisive and something that separates one from another. Of course those who see the cross in this manner believe that the love of God triumphs sin. I believe that. But God's love for us will not excuse our sin. Not after He has established a way to be free, clear and clean of the one thing that keeps us from Him. Oh, He never stops loving us...He never stops chasing us...and the call to relationship is a forever call. But it is the power of sin that motivates me to run from God.

As I wrote earlier, the cross of Christ is the great equalizer in that it reveals our hearts to show us the extent of our own sin. But the cross of Christ is a great spiritual magnet that can lift us up and out of the darkness and death that sin holds for us. On that cross, Jesus opened the way for us to be justified by God, sanctified by God, regenerated by God. How? He was the propitiation for our sin. In other words, Jesus became the means through which God's anger against sin could be satisfied.

In dealing with people who are trying to break free of addiction, they have an incredibly hard time believing in a God who could do for them what they could not do for themselves. They have a hard time accepting the fact that this God they have heard about all their lives, would and could break the bondage that has held them in place. Now couple that belief with the example that the church gives sometimes, and you've got a dangerous, damaging combination that is hard to break through. I'm not saying that every church has damaged people spiritually and emotionally, but I do know that from time to time the church is less than what God desires us to be. Because of our lack of compassion....because of our religious language....and let's be honest here...because of our pharisee-attitude, we have hurt those who come looking for this Jesus we proclaim.

That is why on Saturday nights at Vineyard ReCovery, when I teach on what the cross really is about, I want it to be seen as the ultimate symbol of love and life. I want those whose eyes are dull, whose hearts are hard, and whose ears are deaf, to be touched by God's Holy Spirit and see the cross as the means to new life that has escaped them in the past. I desperately want everyone who comes through the door on Saturday night to meet my Jesus.
Why?
Because the journey and life He will take you on is beyond comprehension.
John 12:32
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."

God on you...
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Making Peace With Our Past

Isaiah 43:18-19
Do not remember the former things. Nor consider the things of old. Behold! I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you  not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Part of working Step # 3 of the Twelve Steps is the decision to turn will and life over to the care of God. In that package of will and life that we turn over, is a portion that some can't seem to release their grip on. What would that be? The past.

When I refer to the past, of course I am talking about the memories and thoughts of the things that were done under the influence of whatever our drug of choice was. But more than that, I am talking about the emotions that come up when we dwell on the past. The feelings of guilt and shame that can stop any recovery dead in its tracks. I always refer to these two emotions as the toxic twin destroyers that can keep a person from moving forward in recovery.

Guilt is always associated with the deeds and behaviors that I have done.
Shame is always directed at my person, who I am.
Put these two together and you've got a dangerous combination. A combination that can only be dealt with by God's Holy Spirit work inside.

When we talk of recovery, and you read such things as "Do  not remember the former things"....it isn't talking about just sloughing them off and acting as it they never happened. It is referring to the process that recovery takes us through where we actually deal with the past and make amends. I guess you could say that all our unpaid accounts are dealt with and settled. God forgives us clear and clean when we confess what we have done. That frees us to go to the people we have wronged and hurt, to make amends and set things right.

Matthew 5:23-24
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer you gift.
Isn't that amazing!!!
God says that if you suddenly realize that there is a riff between you and someone else, because of your actions and choices, you are to leave church. Leave church? Yep..that is how serious this kind of stuff is. So serious that God says get up and leave the church, go right then and set things right. Why? Because it is healing to our souls that's why. Every time we deal with a piece of our past, it is a little more healing that we receiver. Another part is laid to rest and we can truly know that we are moving beyond the things that have held us in place for years. In other words, God is setting new pieces and parts of the path our journey is not taking.
There is freedom........
real freedom in dealing with the past and moving on.

God on you....
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The Divine Pursuit

Tonight I am missing You....
Oh, tonight I am missing You...

The gravely voice of Glen Kaiser speaks volumes as to where I am in life.

I know what Paul means when he speaks of wanting to go home.

That divine groaning that rises up in your spirit to be in the presence of the Lord.

To see the world, as it is, yet know what was truly lost in the garden years ago. It's enough to make a man angry at those two who traded everything for a piece of fruit.

Oh, it wasn't the fruit that turned everything upside down. It was the heart motivation that told the man and the woman that nothing would really happen if they disobeyed God.After all, it's just fruit.

It was the simple, unassuming thought that was birthed in a moment of doubt. Maybe I should watch my own thoughts more closely. Maybe I should watch my own heart with more diligence than I have.

Yet, even in this dark moment when mankind turned away from God to listen to their own selfishness, God never wavered in His love or commitment to His creation. 

Psalm 145:8-9

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

Slow to anger and great in mercy.
The Lord is good to all,

And His tender mercies are over all His works.

How could you not love a God who moves in this manner? How could you not want to spend your days chasing Him to see what was going to happen next?

To chase Him through Scripture....
To chase Him through prayer....
To chase Him through hanging out with others who are hungry for His presence.

To stand there, completely empty.....with no thought as to what was next...with no idea what to pray.....and yet you do. You pray. You pray for that person who is hurting so bad that it breaks your heart. So you pray anyway. The words don't sound coherent, they even sound a bit childish. You stumble and fumble, not for the right words, but for the right heart. You call out to this God and there in the midst of your feeble efforts, He shows up. He reaches down and brings relief and healing for the one that is hurting. 

And in the process of expending yourself in this pursuit of God, you find that the word "worship" takes on a completely new meaning. It becomes a lifestyle. It becomes the fuel for every action you take.....fuel for every thought that floats through your mind...fuel that cause you to burn even hotter and brighter for this God.

Sounds like a zealot or a fanatic doesn't it? Maybe the reason it sounds that way is because we live life in a kind of quiet desperation. We go through religious rituals and meetings in order to soothe and placate those thoughts that want to draw us closer to God. Yet we know deep within ourselves that such a move to be closer only makes us more vulnerable and open to what truly is on His heart. So we try to maintain our distance, yet not offend Him. We try to say the right things and do the right things so as to give the appearance of being holy on some level. 

I didn't come this far to look holy....
I didn't make my choices to be religious...

I want Jesus...

The uncut, unfiltered, unedited version.
I want to crawl upon that Romans 12:1 altar and say, "Here I am, consume me with Your presence. Let the fire of Your Holy Presence just fall and burn away all that isn't from You. Fall and burn until there is nothing left but You in me.
I know that today's posting may seem a bit odd...

But truth be known, I'm in a kind of odd place.

Odd doesn't necessarily translate into bad.
Odd signifies that I am in a place that I've never really been before, and I'm trying to get my bearings.

I know that there has to be more of God than I know.
There has to be more than I am aware of...
That is what motivates me...the thought that God is ever revealing Himself to anyone who would come after Him.

During a conversation the other day, I made the statement that my greatest fear is not that I will mess up or do something wrong in my pursuit of God. My greatest fear is that I will miss what He is wanting to do in me and around me. 

Life today is a mixture of great light and great darkness.
A combination of moments of great joy followed by moments of grief and pain.
In other words, life is happening.
Yet throughout this roller coaster ride, I am filled with a stability and a hope that whispers to me, "keep on...don't quit".
So I won't.
I will keep on...

Keep on to see what God will do next.

God on you...

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Not Be Moved

Matthew 7:24-25
Therefore whoever hears these words of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a WISE MAN who builds his house on the rock. And the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock.

House = life.
We take the words of Christ and they become building material that we use to create a life that can withstand whatever comes our way.
In some ways, this is a comfort. Knowing that we are being prepared to face life head on, instead of running away and seeking comfort in a bottle, pill, or line. 

The thought begins in the heart....
"I will not be moved"......
The heart thought becomes part of the consciousness....
"I will not be moved".....
And the conscience implements it into an action....
We do not move...
We will not return to old habits and old ways, no matter what comes to us.
We will cut and run...
When rains fall....
When floods rise....
When the winds of life howl so hard that we are holding on by a finger....
We will trust the words and life that God has given to us...
And we will not be moved.

The song, Not Be Moved, has become one that I keep on my playlist at all times. It strengthens me and reminds me of the faithfulness of God, even when I am not. It has become the mortar that I am laying brick with in my life, as I build my house. Oh, I love it when life is sunshine and cotton candy. I love it when the sky is extra blue and the wind is gentle on my face. But I know that at some point, that sky is going to darken...the wind will pick up pace...and a storm is on the horizon. I will not fear. I will not be moved by the circumstances or situations that come my way. I will not be moved. May you find Jesus today, in a way you've never known Him or seen Him before.
And may you also determine in your spirit to not be moved.

God on you...
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Being The Church....Not Doing Church

Psalm 8:6-9
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen--
Even the beasts of the field. The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea.
O Lord, our Lord...How excellent is Your name in all the earth.

The passage from Psalms kind of jumped out at me this morning.
According to the best as I understand it, we have been given dominion over the work of God's hands.....
Does this mean the physical world that we see?
Yes...
Does it mean the Kingdom work that is going on around us?
Being the people of God, interacting and moving according to His plans....?
I think maybe it does.

In Matthew 4:4, we are called to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God....In other words, there is spiritual nourishment that sustains our lives when we not only hear, but do the Words of Christ.
Exercise in the Kingdom would include taking what we hear God say, and then being responsible for seeing it carried out.
Feeding the hungry....
Praying for those we are directed to pray for.
Visiting the ones who are in jail or prison.
Healing the sick....
Raising the dead....
And finally, according to Matthew 11:5, preaching (proclaiming / declaring) the incredibly good news that there is freedom from the bondage of this world in Jesus.

God did not give us dominion so we could be a passive church.
God did not tell us to feast and live on His word, so we could occupy a seat at church.
He did not call us to be a spectator watching others do the kingdom work.
You need to understand the place I'm coming from, when I say these things.
I do not believe in simply being active for activities sake.
What I am saying is that we all, if we truly believe and are followers of Jesus, have been given dominion and authority, backed with His POWER, to infect....effect...and affect our corner of the Kingdom.
Kind of a Matthew 25 mandate to do the works of Jesus.

We have a call not to be religious so others will see Jesus....
We have a call to be His body, or corporate gathering of people each trying to hear what they should do.
It is a life of taking risks....
It is being at the grocery store and seeing that women in a wheel chair and suddenly you have this faint thought, "I need to go pray for her". But you pass it off because that just isn't you. Well, what if it were God? What if that was your assignment for the day? 
You think to yourself, "I wouldn't know what to pray!"
If you ask God, He just might tell you.
Maybe she needs an encouraging word from you.
Maybe, just maybe, God wants to heal her....you never know with God what is going to happen.

What's the worse that could happen?
You go over and let her know that God has put her on your heart and you'd like to pray for her. If that doesn't scream the "LOVE OF GOD", then nothing does. It is the mystery of God's Kingdom...the not knowing in advance but willing to take a risk. Stepping out there to speak truth and love.
I have seen people do that and stop potential suicides.
Simply because they thought they heard God say, "Go and pray for that person". The person they were suppose to pray for was contemplating suicide because they thought that no one cared and they had nothing to live for.
This isn't some kind of made up example to get you to believe in what I'm writing. I have witnessed such by a man who had an encounter that he had no way of knowing that God speaking through him would stop a suicide. The man was simply following through on what God had told him to do, which was go over and talk to this man who had caught his attention.
That is what we were created for.
That is what we have been called to do.
Walk in the authority and power of God.
Think on these things...
And watch for appointments today that God may set up for you.

God on you...
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Sunday Video Of Wimber Teaching

I run into a lot of people who read this blog and, from time to time, they ask me why I focus so much on John Wimber. "Why do you post video's of a man who died years before? Why do you continue to talk about a man you never met?" Well, while this is true, I never met Wimber, I do have his voice and his teaching stuck in my brain, from spending countless hours of listening and studying under his teachings.

Marty Boller, author of the book The Wisdom of Wimber: As I see it gave the best answer for those who asked him why he continued to tell of John Wimber:
Now, over the years, well-meaning folks have come up to me, saying, "Marty, be careful. Don't idolize a man. Remember. You're a disciple of Jesus, not John Wimber." My response to these nice folks who are looking out for me is this. "I followed John and his teachings for one reason. Because, as I see it, John Wimber was a man who had been around Jesus. And quite honestly, I can't say that about many pastors I've met over the years. Oh sure, there are well-meaning leaders who refer to Jesus in their teachings and point to Christ with their ministries, but in John's case, I always sensed that he was one who wasn't all that interested in building himself a ministry, or gathering people into his crowd."

Once again, as I promised, it is Sunday and here is John sharing some of his testimony.
God on you...
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