… it’s been a really long time since I’ve studied an Old Testament book in my quiet time. I’ve been hanging out in the four gospels, Acts, and Romans lately. Those are good, but on Sunday at The Vine, Francis Chan reminded me of one of my favorite OT books, Joshua. He was preaching on the subject of “God is Strength.” He pulled from God’s command to Joshua that he be “strong and courageous.” I seem to always need that reminder. Furthermore, Joshua’s just a great book on leadership and personal faith. So, yesterday I started studying Joshua again. The Lord implores Joshua to be strong and courageous, and I believe that there are three specific means for us to be strong and courageous outlined in verses 6-9:
Be strong and courageous b/c of God’s Promises! God says it this way: Be strong and courageous b/c you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them(v.6). When you know God’s promises for your life, you can walk in strength and courage. God’s promises are true and everlasting! God won’t contradict God’s word and promises. You can take them to the bank. The Bible is full of promises, both conditional and unconditional. Do you know them? Do you know the one promise that God has for you right now, regardless of your circumstance?
Be strong and courageous b/c of God’s Plan! Check out these phrases: ”Be careful to obey all the law…” ”Do not turn from it to the right or to the left” “Do not let this book of law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything in it.” God’s law is God’s plan for a prosperous and successful life (please note that I’m not speaking of prosperity in terms of $$$). It’s not a suggestion! It’s the blueprint and design. If you don’t do ALL of it, it’ll be incomplete. If you deviate the slightest bit, it might mess up the whole plan. If you’re not consumed with it, you might miss a detail. Know it! Know ALL of it! Do ALL of it! Be consumed with ALL of it! When you’re following God’s Plan, you’ll be strong and courageous!
Be strong and courageous b/c of God’s Presence! Twice in the first 9 verses, God promises to be with Joshua wherever he goes. God’s promised the same for all of Christ’s followers. God gives Jesus’ followers the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. If God’s for you, with you, and in you, who can be against you?
Be strong and courageous b/c of God’s Promises, God’s Plan, and God’s Presence!
Jesus-Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, love your neighbor as you love yourself. There’s no commandment greater than these.
Doesn’t Jesus know that his last sentence is incorrect? You can’t have two commandments in one. You can’t a commandment (singular) with these (plural). Well, I guess the Son of God can do whatever he pleases. Truth is for Jesus the best display of loving God is loving neighbors. It’s almost as if Jesus was saying, “hey, you love the Creator best when you love His Creation.”
This is the story of how some folks I know are loving the Creator best. I have some neighbors who need someone to love on them. The husband is from a Caribbean Island and the wife is from Germany. They’ve got a five-year-old daughter name and two-year-old twin boys. Both the boys have Down’s Syndrome. Two weeks ago, one of the boys just shut down. Literally, his body shut down. Two weeks later and the doctors still don’t know what’s up with him. He’s unresponsive with no diagnosis or prognosis, and he’s been in the hospital for two weeks. That’s a long time and it’s a long way away. My heart’s breaking for them b/c the mom stayed at the hospital for two weeks and the dad is trying to manage his full-time job and the two other kids. Needless to say, they needed some tangible love. Here’s what went down: A bunch of “neighbors,” literal and figurative, from The Vine provided dinner for over a week. They’ve offered to keep going as long as needed. Two of the “neighbors,” Nick and Shawn, mowed his lawn. It looks so good, I’m thinking about hiring them. We’ve had a “neighbor” offer to drive the mom back-and-forth to the hospital. My wife has offered to watch their other two kids so the mom and dad can go to the hospital without concern for having to care for the other two. Here’s what messes me up: They know I’m a pastor of a new church. They’ve been invited to church. They haven’t come to church. So the church has come to them. I love my neighbors from The Vine who live in my neighborhood b/c they brought the church to this family. Furthermore, they’re loving God by loving their neighbor, and there’s no greater commandment than these!
Confession: I see the Kingdom in kids. Many of them have it. They have this mystical communion with God. A lot of kids describe conversations they’ve had w/ God that seem completely appropriate and specific to their situation. Other kids will describe seeing God. Sometimes the way my kids pray inspires me to pray with more confidence. My son, Brayden, prays for things by thanking God; almost as if God has already answered his prayer. Imagine that! Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth. Unless you change and become like one of these little children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” Now, at least from what Jesus says about the Kingdom, it’s pretty difficult to enter into. I guess you have to start by figuring out what kids are like. Here are some things that describe my kids: Rist-takers, Trusting, Dependent, Full of Faith. Somehow Jesus is calling us to revert back to this state of being and life. It’s as if he’s said that we are the opposite or somehow we grow out of that state. Furthermore, in the next few verses Jesus warns us not to cause one of these kids to sin. In other words, don’t rob them of these kingdom-like, kid qualities! At The Vine one Sunday, we thought we’d exemplify what it might look like for kids to want to grow up to look like us as opposed to looking like the Kingdom Kids they are!
So, have you been reborn in Christ? Are you a child of the King? Do you exemplify child-like faith, dependence on God, risk-taking behaviors? Are you in the Kingdom?
Confession: I don’t know what happened during the six days referenced in Matthew 17:1 (Luke says it was 8 days), and that drives me crazy. Jesus has just come off a great teaching moment with his disciples. They go down to Caesarea Philippi to the mouth of a cave thought to be the mouth of Hades. Jesus gets the profession of a lifetime out of Peter when Pete says that Jesus is the Christ. Peter then tries to talk Jesus out of his death and gets called Satan (that’s awesome. I’ve wanted to do something similar before). Then, Jesus drops the bomb as he tells the guys that in order to follow him they must loose their life! Awesome. So, the next chapter starts with “after six days…” Well, what happened within those six days? Was it just a long trip back to where they came from? Were they involved in a 6 days of prayer? Were they on rabbi-disciple vacation? My gut tells me that this was a season of listening for Jesus, which is why he takes some of the core group up to the mountain for the transfiguration. Who knows? Whatever happened it must not have been too inspirational that the gospel writers didn’t include it’s activity. NOW, that’s a great lesson.
Sometimes in life or ministry, days pass without too much activity. Life seems mundane. There’s nothing to blog about. There’s nothing to twitter about. There’s nothing to record in the journal. We need the mundane, however. We need those moments b/c they’re often the periods of greatest reflection and greatest visioning. After 6 days! Think about how much those guys had to process! 6 days might not be enough. Think about all those guys had to look forward to as followers of Jesus. Now, think about what happens after 6 days. They see the glory of Jesus. They hear the voice of father. That’s worth 6 days of mundane, no activity, or nothing recordable ministry and life.
So, if your life seems mundane and boring, just know that your “after” is coming! If your life seems fruitless in ministry, your after is coming! It might be 6 days. It might be 8 days. It might be 68 days. Your “after” is coming. Press into the word of God like a tree drawing nutrients and in season, you’ll see and hear from God(Psalm 1). Press into prayer and keep praying and eventually you’ll see and hear from God. Keep ministering in Jesus’ name b/c you never know when your mountain top experience is coming. Keep following Jesus b/c you never know when you’re name will be up and he’ll pull you aside to show you his glory. You’re “after” is coming!
Confession: I’ve got a Sunday hang-over that I can’t shake. Yeh, that’s right. Some call it the Holy Hangover. Perry Noble says that if you witness an accident, one second of adrenaline release will take 30 minutes of recovery. So, if you preach for 30 minutes, that’s a long recover time. If you preach multiple times, that’s an even longer recovery time. Frank Decker, who doesn’t blog or twitter but should, says that preaching one message is like working an 8 hour day. Long story short: I’ve got a hangover. I’m enjoying it, however, for the following reasons:
I got to grill steaks at church!
Four guys got to eat steaks at church!
We learned why I’m so HAPPY around Liz.
We discovered Spray-on Jesus.
We gave away roses to every woman who came to church!
We gave away four bottles of perfume to four different women!
We gave away four manicure/pedicure gift certificates (courtesy of Lesko family) to four different women!
One of our first-time guests came all the way from Iraq to worship with us! Sort of.
Our whole church re-committed to follow Jesus Christ not only as Savior, but Lord and King!
Our church joined in on the triumphal procession of Christ by offering to God and the world His aroma!
After services concluded we were short-handed, but ridiculous people like Amy Wacker, David Domyslawski, the Ruzeks, Matt Sims, Heath Maddox, and most of our staff got everything done in the same amount of time! (If I left you off that list, I’m sorry.)
We ate at Monterrey for the traditional Mexican Mother’s Day Meal!
Liz got to go and play by herself for a few hours!
Our family went to hang-out with my family.
I have the best wife in the world! My kids are blessed to have her as a mom!
Got to watch the conclusion of the Amazing Race. I want to be on that show one day.
While all of that is behind me, here’s what I have to look forward to this week:
Meeting with Robin Payne (a former co-worker at SUMC) to talk about her consultant company A242. The website is almost complete. When it is, I’ll hook you up. If you’re a church leader and want to develop discipleship ministry, A242 is the way to go.
Braselton’s Town Council votes tonight whether we get a Conditional Use Permit.
I’ve got meetings all day tomorrow with good friends and co-laborers in Christ.
Wednesday I’m catching up with the guy who’s leading a sweet ministry that develops leaders and they want insight into reaching different faith groups with common ground!
Thursday I’ve got a few meetings lined-up that I’m excited about too!
Wednesday’s finale of LOST!
Possible Men’s Movie Night on the horizon. Who’s in?
Last week of menial running. Next week is game on!
All the things God wants to do this week to just flat mess me up!
