Feast or Fast - Get rid of the E

Electronics and Entertainment consume huge amounts of our time.  At what cost?  When we take the E out of our life we suddenly free up a huge amount of time we can use for something else more productive - like spending it with our creator.  It seems that we all are constantly texting, connecting on Facebook, listening to TV and music, on the phone, instant messaging, going to the movies, etc. etc.  Our lives are full and often too full.  It's like we're feasting on the E parts of life as if we're at some unending amusement buffet.  If we see a small area on our plate that is empty we quickly fill that spot from the buffet.  God wants us to demonstrate His importance by carving out time to be with him.  We can find time in our busy schedules for God by fasting from food or ending the feasting on electronics and entertainment.

In Matthew 6 Jesus gives instructions about fasting.  He says "when" you fast, not "if."  Jesus also spent big blocks of time escaping people to be with his Heavenly Father - we can assume without food.  We know for sure that at least once he spent 40 days fasting (Matthew 4).

Who decides: the young-uns or the fuddy-duddies?

A question was recently passed along by a ministry friend/mentor.  My short answer is that resources are scarce and a church can only accommodate a limited amount of "consumerist needs."  Yet this is simplistic and not always the true answer so I've pasted the original question below and then give my longer answer.
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"I know that there is and always will be some level of tension between generations - even in the church of Christ contrary to His wishes and directions. However, on a philosophical note, I have to ponder, why this tension and adversarial situation seems to be a pretty common thing in the church of our time? How does it develop? How can it be addressed? Is it "normal" and should we just learn to deal with it, or is it against the model of the church Jesus has given to us?  

I just recently returned from an 11 day vacation with five days designated for the family, a transition day, and then five days with just my wife.  The two parts of our summer vacation couldn’t have been more different.

We spent the family portion on the Mogollon Rim of AZ, tent camping.  We experienced camp fires, smores, fishing, games, reading kids' books, hiking, whittling sticks, chasing wild life, and ducking for cover when the daily monsoon storm came rolling in.  We also made sure to break up the routine with trips into town for pizza and one trip to Payson to go bowling.  It was good family fun:)

The next week when it was just Tammy and me we used our credit card points to book a nice hotel in Las Vegas.  We ate at nice restaurants, walked the strip (side stepping the sex vendors,) shopped, visited the fountains of the Bellagio, watched some gambling, read next to the pool, visited the Spa, took in a spectacular show, and of course there was the part that will have to stay in Vegas.  Most of what we enjoyed was not kid friendly, ranging between boring for kids and inappropriate for kids.

The point is that there are times in the family life when the adults do things especially for themselves and there are times when the family needs and interests are the focus.  With four young boys we find that the latter is more often our focus.   Youth sports, school and school functions, structuring their chores and free time, home education and faith development, etc. etc. require the bulk of our focus.  Unity in the home is experienced when the adults work hard at creating a home environment where the children can grow and thrive.

Like in a family, churches also should be places where the environment is intentionally created by the mature/leaders to bring benefit to the young/immature and the unbelievers.  We learn to forgo our stylistic preferences and superficial desires because we understand that young ones require sacrifice from adults so that the environment is suitable and even fun for them.

So, my answer to this question is ultimately about creating the right expectations for the spiritually mature people in my church - 

1. Affirming them as the true leaders of our church 

2. Giving reminders - as leaders they will often be asked to make sacrifices 

3. 

Teaching them to help safeguard the “substance” of the church (i.e. beliefs, discipline, values) but to let go of stylistic preferences for the benefit the "kids"

4. 

Promise them occasional “trips to Vegas” - events and opportunities that challenge the leaders at a high level and include them in adult conversations that would be inappropriate for the young ones

So, the fuddy-duddies (spiritually mature people) win.  They get to decide what church will look and feel like. However, if that group of people are truly leaders, they will decide to design a church that appeals to the young-uns, ahead of their own preferences.  Of course if the elders/seniors in the church aren't also it's spiritually mature group - then there's a whole other set of dysfunctional issues to worry about that goes far beyond what the church feels and looks like.

Do Something Small that is Huge

We learn an important lesson from the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.  Jesus took what was voluntarily offered and although it wasn’t much, he did something great with it!  I shared a video on Sunday at Mountain Vista Community Church that introduced Hope Alive.  Hope Alive is an effective sponsorship program in Uganda, and the video describes how $37/mo buys more than food, medicine, and an education.  It buys immediate hope and begins to create a vision for these kids to care for their own communities!  That’s God multiplying something little into something huge.  Watch the video by clicking the link below and check out Hope Alive.  I've been to Uganda to see it in action and it's one of the best sponsorship ministries I'm familiar with.  Every family in America should be sponsoring at least one child from a developing world country.   

http://www.hopealiveafrica.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=39&Itemid=37

The Sacrifice of American Heroes

Thank you to our current and former US servicemen and women who have committed to give their lives to protect us and our freedom!  So many in the past have paid the ultimate price helping to ensure our continued freedom from oppressive dictators, communistic ambitions, and violent terrorism - we are very fortunate!

Our freedom means so much to us.  The obvious benefit is that our freedom allows us to pursue faith and happiness and success within the bounds of reasonable laws.  On Memorial Day I trust that all Americans are appreciating those freedoms and honoring those who have preserved them.  Today, we can travel anywhere in our country, gather with whomever we wish, worship and believe in the God of our choice, pray for our govt leaders (whom we freely elected), and we even have the freedom to work and earn time and a half if we so choose (so that I can enjoy my coffee at Starbucks while I write this.)

Let's think about the less obvious implications of our freedom.  Knowing that my church, like the first church in Acts 2, gives generously and voluntarily and serves God without compulsion, I can conclude that the church is not in some way creating another form of communism (which some of claimed of the early church.)  The early church gave freely of what they had because of their concern and love.  We love God, we love our church family, and we love those who are lost and hurting and so we give and serve freely because of that love.  Communism is about taking from its members, but a free society under God's rule is about those members giving freely - huge difference.

Freedom demonstrates relevance -
Yesterday at our church people put money in the offering basket.  Our church is free of government interference and consequently is not supported by the govt (not the case in some European countries & the Middle East).  So, our church's ongoing existence and the ministries we do to benefit others comes from the free choice of our members to give...and to give whatever amount they choose.  The fact that we continue to exist and to offer significant ministry is a sign that we are relevant and needed (or the income would cease.)  In a communist country the church would be highly regulated and supported by the state, so a church's survival is no way to evaluate if a church is relevant and impacting, because the state is notorious for underwriting inefficient organizations.    

Freedom demonstrates love - 
At our church yesterday we had a team of people who arrived early to set up for church, and to practice music, and to prepare a volunteer breakfast, and to hand out bulletins, and to run the sound system, and to welcome people, and to teach children, and to set up road signs, and to make coffee, and to tear everything down when church was done.  Many of these volunteers gave 3-6 hours Sunday morning.  Yet, they did this freely - no one was making them work and no one was paying them (how do you pay a vol time and a half for holiday weekend work?)  Service by a volunteer done freely, is a demonstration of love.  As you serve your family you demonstrate love.  As you serve your church you demonstrate love for God and your church family.  As we serve our community they know we love them.  Without freedom the motivation is unclear.

Christian Communists

This Sunday in my message to our church I will be asking the question, "Is it God's will for wealth to be redistributed?"  This is the debate going on between our nation's political conservatives and our President.  They claim that it is his goal to redistribute the wealth of America so that the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots," can be diminished.

This debate elicits some of the most brazen of labels being heatedly exchanged between the two camps.  The conservatives call the President a "socialist" and a "communist" (among other things.)  Yet, with the recent unveiling of the corruption and greed of our financial system and the unjustified gigantic bonuses that get paid to executives even in cases where the company is under-performing, the conservative side is vulnerable to being attacked as "greedy" and "self-serving."

According to the trusted biblical author, Luke, it is undeniable that the first generation of Christians, "sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need."  So, what are we to do with this? In Acts 2:42-47 we see these Christians gathering together in very close community and "having everything in common."  Were the early believers a bunch of communists?  Was this a pattern of mutuality that God intended to continue?  Why didn't it continue and should it be re-instituted?

My thoughts on these significant questions is fundamentally tied to what Memorial Day is all about... so you'll hear my conclusions on "Christian Communists" on Monday in my entry on the "Sacrifice of American Heroes."

God's prophet? No. Raised an important issue? Yes.

It's May 22nd and to few people's surprise, no cataclysmic event occurred yesterday to mark the beginning of the end.  Truth be told many people did some soul searching as a result of the hype generated by some guy in N Cal (I don't remember his name and don't care to).  I don't know enough about this guy to know if he's the religious version of Donald Trump or maybe he's sincere.  What I do know is that he was wrong and if he lived in ancient times he'd have been stoned as a false prophet (I'll limit my response to simple ridicule.)


What matters most is that we are all well prepared for the imminent return of Christ.  What the late night comedians failed to realize as they were making fun of this prediction is that Christ could have come on Wednesday last week...or while I'm in the middle of writing this entry for that matter.  They make fun of him because they think the idea of Christ's return is silly.  I make fun of him for Theological reasons - the Bible is clear that NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY.  But make no mistake, the reality of his return is not silly.  


Since we don't know the day, we have to be prepared just like when the boss says he may stop by some time this week for a surprise inspection or the teacher says be ready for a pop quiz at any time.  Are you ready for Christ to return at any moment?  We knew he wouldn't come Saturday because so many people were expecting it.  However, no one expects it in 5 minutes or maybe tomorrow.

Preparation for his coming begins with faith in His Son Jesus.  To trust Jesus as the only avenue to God and to ask him for forgiveness of sins is the beginning.  We must also believe that Jesus took the punishment for our sins and that he rose from the dead.  This faith invites God's Spirit to indwell us and make us a part of God's family.  From that point forward we prepare for his coming by following his leading - to serve him and to turn from the sins and moral pitfalls that beset us.

When I stand before him I want to be able to say that I have believed in His Son Jesus (John chapter 3) and have followed him as best I can.  I want him to say to me, "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into your master's happiness (Mat 25:21.)"

The World Ends Saturday, May 21st (Part 1)

I hadn't really been paying attention, until recently.  I was at a ministry conference in Sacramento last week and I drove by a group of people on the side of the road with banners and signs touting this Saturday as the end of the world.  I've also been receiving calls, texts and emails from friends wanting to know if it's true.


The answer is given in Scripture (and you don't even have to be good at math) – see 1 Thes 5:2, 4; 2 Peter 3:10 and Rev 3:3; 16:15.  Each one of these verses describe the Day of the Lord like a thief coming to rob you.  If you’ve ever been robbed you’ll understand how this feels.  You had no idea until after it happened – it’s extremely startling.  These verses plus others can be synthesized into a doctrine called "the imminent return of Christ."  Simply stated, Christ could return at any moment.    

I invite you to take some time to ponder these verses and the idea that Christ could return at any point.  Then, take some time to reflect on what affect that belief has on us if we truly hold to it.  Also, consider whether this doctrine has any implications for the predictions that people like to make about the return of Christ or the end of the world.  With that I'll leave you to your own conclusions and convictions about the May 21st prophecy.  


If you're still wondering about my opinion... could this prophecy by true?  Look for my opinion in part two which I will be posting this Sunday.