confessions of a church planter

Confession: I really didn’t want to have Quiet Time this morning. Once I got to my secret place, I really didn’t want to be there. I found that it was hard to get in the zone. Just so you know, the zone is what I call the moment when you realize that God is present with you in your reading and prayer. I love the zone and long for the zone, but when I’m not there or have difficulty getting there, quiet time is difficult. One of the difficulties of getting in the zone is unconfessed sin. Confessing sin is must for being in the Another difficulty of getting in the zone is confessing sin. Sometimes I get tired of bringing my crap to Jesus! Not b/c I don’t think I should bring my crap to Jesus, but that somehow Jesus gets tired of being crapped on. Furthermore, I get tired of my crap. So, this morning I was having a pity party in prayer. Thinking things like “why do I still sin, God?” I was so consumed with this thought this morning that I wasn’t able to reach the zone. So, check this out: While I have a normally scheduled Bible reading, my prayer journal has a verse at the bottom of each page. I happened to look down and it read: Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

That’s the zone and that’s the zone. God met me right there when I was having difficulty meeting Him, which is the way God operates anyway. Furthermore, that is grace! That’s the zone! That verse challenged me to march right into the throne of grace. There was mercy or restrained judgement/punishment awaiting me. There was also unearned favor to help me.

I don’t normally like to share secret place stuff, but I kept feeling pressed that there might be some of you out there who need to know to approach the throne of grace with confidence today. God’s ready to meet with you and The Zone is awaiting your arrival today!

Ken wants to know: do you feel there has to be an exact moment a person comes to full relationship with Christ, or could it be gradual, over time?

That’s a great question and only slightly less difficult than Kent’s question from yesterday.  If we’re to take Ken’s question at face value about a person’s relationship with Christ, then the answer could be either one, especially a gradual commitment to Christ.  However, I think Ken might be asking about when a person is justified or “saved.”  This question deserves a little more attention.  Very early in John’s gospel, Jesus is having a conversation with a guy named Nicodemus.  Nic wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus responds by saying that he must be born again, which is only possible when a person is born of the Holy Spirit.  Obviously, there has to be a moment of birth, but I would argue that there might be a gestation process.  Take for instance, the disciples process of a fully committed relationship with Jesus.  At what point where they fully committed?  Was it when Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Son of the living God?  If it was, what do we do when Jesus calls him Satan or when Peter denies Jesus 3 times?  By Acts chapter 2, it’s pretty obvious that Peter’s been born of the Spirit.  Shoot, he and the others speak in foreign languages under the power of the Spirit.  But, when did it happen?  I’m not sure.  In the modern church (over the last 50 years of Christianity in America), we’ve focused on the moment!

Did you pray a prayer?  Did you raise your hand?  Did you walk an aisle?  (Just so you know…I did!)  Some call this “decisional regeneration.”  However, a moment or a decision doesn’t “save” a person.  It’s only by grace through faith that someone is justified.  That’s not determined by a moment, but complete trust in what Christ has done completely!  That might take place in a moment, but it might take place gradually.  The important question is this:  Has it taken place?  Is a person in a fully committed relationship with Jesus?  Is a person born of the Spirit?  THAT’S ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS!

FYI, in a 5-mile radius of Chateau Elan, there are approximately 19,000 people who do not have any level of a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Need to confess?