Nobody can deny the powerful imagery that is all throughout Hosea. It makes my heart soar at times and makes my gut wrench at times. Hosea 12 is one of those chapters that definitely does both. I have been reading the Bible in The Message for the past two years (sometimes checking the translation with the NIV and ESV) and I love some of the interpretations he gives. Peterson actually thinks this section should start back in the last verse of chapter 11 where he puts the title “Soul Destroying Lies” From 11:12 to 12:11 we read that gut wrenching description of someone who is literally hell bent and then in 12:12 God puts the question to his people in light of the description he has just given. He says, “are you going to repeat the life of your ancestor Jacob? He ran off guilty to Aram, Then sold his soul to get ahead, and made it big through treachery and deceit.” I was reminded yesterday how most of us find our identity in what we do. We think our job or "making it big" defines who we are and when we believe that, we will not stop at any amount of treachery and deceit to gain and improve our value. God, knowing that, tells them where their real identity is found. In The Message, Hosea 12:13 says “Your real identity is formed through God-sent prophets, who led you out of Egypt and served as faithful pastors.” The ESV says, “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was guarded.” So, I fused those two translations together to get this “The Lord forms your real identity through a God-sent prophet who led you out of Egypt and served and guarded you as your faithful pastor.” That is overflowing with Christology. Jesus is the real and true prophet who is the Lord who leads his children out of Egypt. He doesnt grumble about them but guards them and serves them as the faithful pastor.
Prayer for today:
God, even though I am hell bent to repeat the life of my ancestor Jacob let me see and embrace that my real identity is formed by you, the one who brought me out of slavery to sin and who serves me and guards me as my faithful pastor.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Feelings Check At Recovery Group Meetings
Why do we have times of feelings checks at our group meetings? Last week in our Wednesday night Route1520 meeting we talked for a while about why we have times of "check in." I think it is a really good question because sometimes the value of group feelings checks can be lost just like many other very valuable things can lose their value. After that discussion and a couple of conversations today, here are a few of the benefits I see to having a time of check in during a recovery meeting.
• Feelings check shows me that everyone is human and everyone struggles. Sometimes I get to thinking I'm the only one who is struggling or some people have it together and I don’t so I better act like I have it together while I'm in this room. That is not true. These rooms are places where we are to connect at human weakness then talk about the strength and hope that Christ provides. If we never connect at the point of human weakness, we start to get to a place where we miss the fact that the strength comes only from Christ and not from ourselves.
• Feelings check gives me times to hear about and thank God when a brother is doing well. This is the flip side to the first point. Week after week I might hear how a brother is struggling but when he comes in and is doing well he can share with us hope for us to have strength from the same place he is finding strength.
• Feelings check makes "hiding in recovery" harder. We addicts can hide almost anywhere and that includes recovery. If all I do at meeting after meeting is talk about what I know about the program I can come off as someone who doesn’t have any struggles and can come to meeting after meeting without letting anyone know that I'm struggling. We have all known hiding in shadows but the truth is that we can hide even while talking at length and sharing great knowledge of the 12 steps and recovery in general.
• Feelings check helps me get in touch with and describe my feelings because I am hearing other people describe their feelings. Let's honestly face this. We have trouble describing our feelings. If Tal is asking me how I feel about something he normally has to tell me several times "That is what you are thinking. I want to know what you are feeling." I will take whatever help I can get to put my feelings to words. There is something about talking about my feelings in front of three other brothers that is different from talking about my feelings with just one other person. As I continue to grow in recovery I will be able to get in touch with my feelings and describe my feelings better. As I talk about my feelings with others who are newer in recovery they can better know how to describe the feelings they are feeling. A quick sidebar (you can tell I have been watching the Casey Anthony trial) - Check out The Feeling Wheel
• Feelings check helps me know better how to pray for my brothers. Honestly, we don’t talk to each other enough about how we can be praying for each other. Until we get better at that, I see a focused time of feelings check as something that is needed to begin to see James 5:16 realized in our recovery groups. We all want to see healing and healing will not come without confession.
• Feelings check gets all of the garbage out on the table so we can then focus on the solution. A lot times I sat through meetings just thinking about the crap I was going through rather than really listening to the strength and hope others were sharing. This is one of the reasons we do feelings check at the beginning of our group meetings. Once we move into the discussion time I am actually feeling a little more freedom than I felt when I walked into the room and that freedom can allow me to focus on the light of Christ rather than the darkness of my day.
• Feelings check show new people that it is ok to share your feelings with others and that others in the group really want to hear how their brothers are feeling. When I was new to recovery groups I was scared to share my feelings with others because I thought no one would want to hear about my problems. When a new comer can hear others share their feelings and see that no one freaks out and see that the rest of the group is really concerned with how each member is doing he can be free to share his feelings with us and know we will care about his feelings too. Beyond that, he will really care about hearing your solution because he has some more reason to believe that you really care about him.
While there are many more benefits to having a time of feelings check in group meetings most of those benefits can be experienced checking in with a sponsor one on one and are probably best experienced checking in with a sponsor one on one.
Now, there are a few reasons people give for NOT doing feelings checks at meetings that are actually very good concerns. The top reasons I have heard are that it turns meetings into places to just emotionally dump and it keeps groups focused on the problem rather than focused on the solution.
1. If I come to a meeting and all I hear about is how all of these guys acted out over the week I am going to leave that meeting more triggered, down, and depressed than when I entered and by the way thanks for the new ideas on how to act out because you spent the majority of your time describing exactly how you can access porn without your wife knowing and you said the exact same thing the last time I was in a check in group with you.
2. This isn't your therapy group (namely because there is no therapist there) so don't treat it as such.
3. This isn't the place for you or me to get free therapy from quasi therapist wannabees. Quit looking for that.
4. This is not a place for me to get an audience to hear me go on and on week after week about the resentments I hold so deeply. I need to share that stuff with my sponsor (if I dont have a sponsor I need to get a sponsor immediately) so he can help me apply the steps to it and hopefully get to a point where I canadmit my part in the resentment, admit where I am wrong, and let go of that resentment.
5. I do not come to these groups to just get stuff off my chest or just hear other people get stuff off their chest. I come here to hear about strength and hope that is born out of experience and share the strength and hope I have experienced. Thank God for the things I have heard Jim C say at the meetings he leads. Talk about experience, strength, and hope!
Obviously, I too think that many (DEFINITELY INCLUDING MYSELF) have abused feelings check times and have turned them into very negative things that can ruin meeting times.
So, at our Wednesday night Route1520 meetings we have come up with a few practical ways to counter those negatives.
First, we use a timer when people are checking in. People get 3 to 5 minutes to check in. This makes my time of sharing tight and helps me stay off rabbit trails, which I love to go down. Second, groups are limited to four people. Checking in with three other brothers is just a little more intimate making me pay more attention when others are speaking and letting me feel like others are paying more attention when I am speaking. Also, when there are only three other people in the group I feel less of that "great I have an audience" feeling. With the timer and 4 person limit, the overall check in time is around twenty minutes per meeting, giving us seventy minutes to focus on the solution. Third, we do check in at the beginning of the meeting so that we can move on from that to spending the rest of our meeting focused on the solution. Doing check in first, keeping it tight, and making sure it is not the majority of the meeting helps us experience the benefits of checking in and somewhat protect them from turning into the negative times of pity parties they can many times turn into.
I would love for us to add to this practical list! What have you experienced in your groups? Do you have times of feelings checks? How do they go?
• Feelings check shows me that everyone is human and everyone struggles. Sometimes I get to thinking I'm the only one who is struggling or some people have it together and I don’t so I better act like I have it together while I'm in this room. That is not true. These rooms are places where we are to connect at human weakness then talk about the strength and hope that Christ provides. If we never connect at the point of human weakness, we start to get to a place where we miss the fact that the strength comes only from Christ and not from ourselves.
• Feelings check gives me times to hear about and thank God when a brother is doing well. This is the flip side to the first point. Week after week I might hear how a brother is struggling but when he comes in and is doing well he can share with us hope for us to have strength from the same place he is finding strength.
• Feelings check makes "hiding in recovery" harder. We addicts can hide almost anywhere and that includes recovery. If all I do at meeting after meeting is talk about what I know about the program I can come off as someone who doesn’t have any struggles and can come to meeting after meeting without letting anyone know that I'm struggling. We have all known hiding in shadows but the truth is that we can hide even while talking at length and sharing great knowledge of the 12 steps and recovery in general.
• Feelings check helps me get in touch with and describe my feelings because I am hearing other people describe their feelings. Let's honestly face this. We have trouble describing our feelings. If Tal is asking me how I feel about something he normally has to tell me several times "That is what you are thinking. I want to know what you are feeling." I will take whatever help I can get to put my feelings to words. There is something about talking about my feelings in front of three other brothers that is different from talking about my feelings with just one other person. As I continue to grow in recovery I will be able to get in touch with my feelings and describe my feelings better. As I talk about my feelings with others who are newer in recovery they can better know how to describe the feelings they are feeling. A quick sidebar (you can tell I have been watching the Casey Anthony trial) - Check out The Feeling Wheel
• Feelings check helps me know better how to pray for my brothers. Honestly, we don’t talk to each other enough about how we can be praying for each other. Until we get better at that, I see a focused time of feelings check as something that is needed to begin to see James 5:16 realized in our recovery groups. We all want to see healing and healing will not come without confession.
• Feelings check gets all of the garbage out on the table so we can then focus on the solution. A lot times I sat through meetings just thinking about the crap I was going through rather than really listening to the strength and hope others were sharing. This is one of the reasons we do feelings check at the beginning of our group meetings. Once we move into the discussion time I am actually feeling a little more freedom than I felt when I walked into the room and that freedom can allow me to focus on the light of Christ rather than the darkness of my day.
• Feelings check show new people that it is ok to share your feelings with others and that others in the group really want to hear how their brothers are feeling. When I was new to recovery groups I was scared to share my feelings with others because I thought no one would want to hear about my problems. When a new comer can hear others share their feelings and see that no one freaks out and see that the rest of the group is really concerned with how each member is doing he can be free to share his feelings with us and know we will care about his feelings too. Beyond that, he will really care about hearing your solution because he has some more reason to believe that you really care about him.
While there are many more benefits to having a time of feelings check in group meetings most of those benefits can be experienced checking in with a sponsor one on one and are probably best experienced checking in with a sponsor one on one.
Now, there are a few reasons people give for NOT doing feelings checks at meetings that are actually very good concerns. The top reasons I have heard are that it turns meetings into places to just emotionally dump and it keeps groups focused on the problem rather than focused on the solution.
1. If I come to a meeting and all I hear about is how all of these guys acted out over the week I am going to leave that meeting more triggered, down, and depressed than when I entered and by the way thanks for the new ideas on how to act out because you spent the majority of your time describing exactly how you can access porn without your wife knowing and you said the exact same thing the last time I was in a check in group with you.
2. This isn't your therapy group (namely because there is no therapist there) so don't treat it as such.
3. This isn't the place for you or me to get free therapy from quasi therapist wannabees. Quit looking for that.
4. This is not a place for me to get an audience to hear me go on and on week after week about the resentments I hold so deeply. I need to share that stuff with my sponsor (if I dont have a sponsor I need to get a sponsor immediately) so he can help me apply the steps to it and hopefully get to a point where I canadmit my part in the resentment, admit where I am wrong, and let go of that resentment.
5. I do not come to these groups to just get stuff off my chest or just hear other people get stuff off their chest. I come here to hear about strength and hope that is born out of experience and share the strength and hope I have experienced. Thank God for the things I have heard Jim C say at the meetings he leads. Talk about experience, strength, and hope!
Obviously, I too think that many (DEFINITELY INCLUDING MYSELF) have abused feelings check times and have turned them into very negative things that can ruin meeting times.
So, at our Wednesday night Route1520 meetings we have come up with a few practical ways to counter those negatives.
First, we use a timer when people are checking in. People get 3 to 5 minutes to check in. This makes my time of sharing tight and helps me stay off rabbit trails, which I love to go down. Second, groups are limited to four people. Checking in with three other brothers is just a little more intimate making me pay more attention when others are speaking and letting me feel like others are paying more attention when I am speaking. Also, when there are only three other people in the group I feel less of that "great I have an audience" feeling. With the timer and 4 person limit, the overall check in time is around twenty minutes per meeting, giving us seventy minutes to focus on the solution. Third, we do check in at the beginning of the meeting so that we can move on from that to spending the rest of our meeting focused on the solution. Doing check in first, keeping it tight, and making sure it is not the majority of the meeting helps us experience the benefits of checking in and somewhat protect them from turning into the negative times of pity parties they can many times turn into.
I would love for us to add to this practical list! What have you experienced in your groups? Do you have times of feelings checks? How do they go?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Easter 2011 at Tapestry of Hope
Here is a little glimpse into what happened at Tapestry this past Sunday. I have been wanting to do this for some time now so I guess Easter Sunday is a great day to start it.
It really seemed that the place was buzzing with excitement this Sunday. Tal had found a video that we thought would be a great way to kick off our worship gathering but it is one of those videos where we wanted everyone to be watching from the beginning. So, I gave a quick welcome to get everyone’s attention and then we played this video.
The check cleared and that is why we gather here to worship every Sunday evening. If Jesus can beat death there is no problem we can bring him that is too big for him.
We then all stood for a responsive reading of Psalm 118. I read the Psalm aloud and we all read together the parts in bold.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let those who fear the Lord say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
The Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
SONG – Come and Listen
SONG – I Will Sing of My Redeemer
Matthew 28:1-10 (The Message)
SONG – You Are My King
VIDEO – What is the Bible Basically About?
SERMON – Love of a Different Kind
SONG – In Christ Alone
As we moved toward communion, we confessed our sins together using “The Great Confession.”
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
Casey then read the words of institution from the Book of Common Prayer and then asked us question 45 from the Heidelberg Catechism, encouraging us to read these words aloud together if we believed them.
How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?
First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death.
Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life.
Third, Christ's resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection.
During the benediction Tal again reminded us of the love of God for us that he chose us and he is coming back for us to complete the wedding and prayed that the peace of God be with us as we leave.
It really seemed that the place was buzzing with excitement this Sunday. Tal had found a video that we thought would be a great way to kick off our worship gathering but it is one of those videos where we wanted everyone to be watching from the beginning. So, I gave a quick welcome to get everyone’s attention and then we played this video.
G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.
The check cleared and that is why we gather here to worship every Sunday evening. If Jesus can beat death there is no problem we can bring him that is too big for him.
We then all stood for a responsive reading of Psalm 118. I read the Psalm aloud and we all read together the parts in bold.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Let those who fear the Lord say,
"His steadfast love endures forever."
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
The Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
SONG – Come and Listen
SONG – I Will Sing of My Redeemer
Matthew 28:1-10 (The Message)
SONG – You Are My King
VIDEO – What is the Bible Basically About?
SERMON – Love of a Different Kind
SONG – In Christ Alone
As we moved toward communion, we confessed our sins together using “The Great Confession.”
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
Casey then read the words of institution from the Book of Common Prayer and then asked us question 45 from the Heidelberg Catechism, encouraging us to read these words aloud together if we believed them.
How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?
First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death.
Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life.
Third, Christ's resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection.
During the benediction Tal again reminded us of the love of God for us that he chose us and he is coming back for us to complete the wedding and prayed that the peace of God be with us as we leave.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Don't Just Give Up. Throw In the Towel!
There are times in my life when I just want to give up. Maybe the struggle is too much. Maybe I have lost too many times. Maybe I am experiencing the consequences of a fallen world and my sinful actions. Whatever the case, I just want to give up.
I think Micah, one of Israel’s prophets, knew that feeling very well. Micah was overwhelmed with sorrow, sunk in a swamp of despair because everyone he knew was out for blood. They were like animals preying on each other. He couldn’t trust anybody and the world around him was falling to pieces because the consequences of the sins of his nation were finally landing.
He wasn’t going to give up though! I hear that all of the time. “Don’t give up! Don’t give up! When times are hard don’t give up!” What does that mean though? What does it mean to not give up?
We normally think the opposite of giving up is fighting but the truth is that not giving up and fighting in my own strength are two totally different responses. For Micah, giving up meant trusting that God could do for him what he could not do for himself. We face an enemy that is cunning, baffling, and powerful. Without help it is too much for us.
This reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Rocky IV. Apollo was up against an opponent that was too much for him but he didn’t want to admit defeat. He didn’t want to throw in the towel and he died in battle. He didn’t realize that there was one who could defeat his enemy and he needed to throw in the towel, step aside, and watch the enemy get defeated.
I cannot beat the enemy of my addiction. I must throw in the towel, but only to move out of the way and let God fight. As some people say, “we surrender to win.” This is one of the many paradoxes of recovery.
If I fight in my own strength I am actually giving up on believing that God is greater than me and I am giving up on the assurance that he can and will fight for me. In fact God has already fought for me, the victory has already been won, and amazingly we get credited for that victory if we belong to Christ!
Micah waited for God because he knew that God was listening and he knew that God was making things right (restoring sanity), something he knew he couldn’t do in his own power. This is the essence of the second step.
Prayer for today:
Lord, today may I not give up on you and fight my battles in my own strength but may I throw in the towel and let you work in and through me to fulfill your good purpose.
Donald Miller A Million Miles In A Thousand Years
This is one of those few books I bought as soon as it came out. I was really excited about the release of this book somewhat in the way I have been excited about the release of many albums. My excitement was fueled by the fact that Miller was coming to Birmingham, AL on a book tour shortly after the book was released. I, like many, fell in love with Miller's writing style in Blue Like Jazz. My church, Tapestry of Hope, had a men's Bible study group that read Blue Like Jazz and discussed it chapter by chapter in Jackson's Bar and Bistro. One assistant manager, Jessica, asked, what is this, a Bible study? Do you know you are in a bar? We thought that was awesome that she said that! But, she started asking questions about Blue Like Jazz and we got her a copy of the audio book and she came up to us a few weeks later telling us about her favorite chapter in the book! In fact, almost every server in the place had a copy of Blue Like Jazz because if they asked us what we were reading we asked them if they wanted a copy and almost all of them wanted one and came back to us telling us how much they liked it. So, here is DM again, offering some great insights into life, based off a movie that is being made about Blue Like Jazz. This book has some great points and it is in great Donald Miller style. Get it, read it, and most importantly, pray over it and discuss it with friends...maybe in a bar over a half price beer (which all low gravity beers are at Jackson's on Tuesday nights). Here is a promo trailer about DM's new book...
What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Hope In the Middle of Disaster and Doom
Monday, January 3, 2011
I read Isaiah 3:1-5:30. The verses I am taking as my verses for the day are 4:5-6.
5 Then God will bring back the ancient pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and mark Mount Zion and everyone in it with his glorious presence, his immense, protective presence,
6 shade from the burning sun and shelter from the driving rain.
Isaiah 4 is so short but oh man what a powerful punch. Chapter 3 describes (in some places pretty graphically – I think Eugene watered it down a little from what the Hebrew says) the outward expressions of the dark hearts of the Israelites. I think the outward expressions are like what we call "fruit sins" in Route1520. Fruit sins are the disasters you can see but they always have root sins that produce them. Some root sins I have seen in my life are dishonesty, lust, pride, envy, and fear. Ultimately they all go back to unbelief. The problem is that so often we just want the fruit sins to be gone and we dont want to take the time it takes to attack to root sins. Truth is that if we are ever going to see those fruit sins dry up, we must let the gospel message attack the root sins in our hearts. In Isaiah 4:1, the description of the fruit sins comes to its low point, what a lot of people call rock bottom. But to our surprise it is here, just when it looks like all light of hope has been totally burned out, “…that’s when God’s Branch will sprout green and lush.” Right between disaster, which the Israelites brought on themselves as a result of their darkened hearts, and doom, which God uses to discipline his children, there is HOPE. What does he promise as a gift of hope? NOTHING but HIS PRESENCE. I wonder how many times I see his presence alone (4:2-6)as the only hope in the middle of the disaster of my life (3:1-4:1) and the doom of my consequences (5:1-30). Not nearly often enough. Today Lord, show me how YOUR PRESENCE is all I need, your immense, protective presence that is shade from the burning sun (reminds me of Jonah and the shade tree) and shelter from the driving rain.
I read Isaiah 3:1-5:30. The verses I am taking as my verses for the day are 4:5-6.
5 Then God will bring back the ancient pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night and mark Mount Zion and everyone in it with his glorious presence, his immense, protective presence,
6 shade from the burning sun and shelter from the driving rain.
Isaiah 4 is so short but oh man what a powerful punch. Chapter 3 describes (in some places pretty graphically – I think Eugene watered it down a little from what the Hebrew says) the outward expressions of the dark hearts of the Israelites. I think the outward expressions are like what we call "fruit sins" in Route1520. Fruit sins are the disasters you can see but they always have root sins that produce them. Some root sins I have seen in my life are dishonesty, lust, pride, envy, and fear. Ultimately they all go back to unbelief. The problem is that so often we just want the fruit sins to be gone and we dont want to take the time it takes to attack to root sins. Truth is that if we are ever going to see those fruit sins dry up, we must let the gospel message attack the root sins in our hearts. In Isaiah 4:1, the description of the fruit sins comes to its low point, what a lot of people call rock bottom. But to our surprise it is here, just when it looks like all light of hope has been totally burned out, “…that’s when God’s Branch will sprout green and lush.” Right between disaster, which the Israelites brought on themselves as a result of their darkened hearts, and doom, which God uses to discipline his children, there is HOPE. What does he promise as a gift of hope? NOTHING but HIS PRESENCE. I wonder how many times I see his presence alone (4:2-6)as the only hope in the middle of the disaster of my life (3:1-4:1) and the doom of my consequences (5:1-30). Not nearly often enough. Today Lord, show me how YOUR PRESENCE is all I need, your immense, protective presence that is shade from the burning sun (reminds me of Jonah and the shade tree) and shelter from the driving rain.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I got that passage nailed!
Have you ever heard a preacher or seminary student say something like that? Slap him next time he does. He deserves it. We never have passages nailed. This passage I am studying is kicking my butt...and I love it! I am working on my sermon manuscript for Sunday, Ephesians 1:15-23. Basically the point of the text is that Paul is praying for the Ephesians to have true understanding of the hope we are called to, the glorious inheritance of the saints, and the power of Christ working toward us. WOW! I mean, could you have any more power packed statements? I don’t think so. So I am sitting here meditating on how to talk about the hope we have and there is just so much that can be said about it but the problem with everything that can be said about it is that none of it fully grasps the concept. So I say I will come back to hope. I will just move on to the next one. Oh great! The glorious inheritance we have as saints! Ok. I will go back to working on hope for now. And as I look forward to the power of Christ I think that one will be easier because that is the one that is expanded upon in the text. The other two are just stated and then Paul moves on. But the expansion of the idea of Christ’s power working toward us only makes me more aware of how huge that concept is! It is like th power of the resurrection, ascension, every name bowing at Christ, everything being under his feet, and Christ being the head of his church which by the way is his literal body on earth. Wow! Well, if this doesn’t bowl me over as a preacher and show me how small I am in the midst of God’s big ocean of knowledge I don’t know what will. This is an awesome text filled with so much. I am so glad I am spending time digging into it.
Friday, May 07, 2010
Holding My Fears or Being Held By My Father?
One thing we have been emphasizing at Tapestry and on Tal Prince Live lately is that the enemy has a three fold plan (to steal, kill, and destroy) and he never sleeps. As I was reading today, I came across the story of David and Goliath. Like many of the biblical stories I have known since I was a little kid, there are some important details that I never really thought about.
Today the thought that jumped out at me was how for forty days Goliath came out every morning and evening and took his stand (1 Samuel 17:16) And I love Peterson’s translation of 1 Samuel 17:11. “When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.” When Satan taunts you do you feel terrified? Do you loose all hope? That is how many of us have felt in our addiction. What do you fear? Have Satan’s taunts made you think you can never give up this addiction to God? Have you worked step four and inventoried your fears to see what they really are? Charlie, an alcoholic with a lot of days of sobriety, said your fears basically fit into three categories. You are afraid of loosing what you have, you are afraid of not getting what you want, or you have done something wrong and you are afraid of what’s going to happen when you get caught. When I see my fears fitting into those categories I also see it fitting into one big category. I am not God and I am afraid God can't do as good of a job at being God as I think I can. Idolatry. Misplaced worship. Unbelief.
Here is the hope we have. First, remember that “although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.” Now, remember that our Lord was tempted in the desert for 40 days. That's the exact number of days Goliath taunted Israel. Satan went after him with attack after attack…………and Jesus was victorious! If we are in Christ we don’t fight this battle without hope!
Are you trying to defeat Goliath on your own so that God will be proud of you? Remember, if you are his adopted child he has given you all of the holiness of Christ. That is better than any holiness you can muster up on your own, which is actually no holiness at all. When God sees you, He sees Jesus. You cannot be any more loved by God or pleasing to God than that. Max Lucado said, “God loves you just the way you are but he doesn’t want to leave you that way. He wants to make you just like Jesus.” God will fight for you if you are willing to give up the fears to him, give up the fight to him, and rest in his arms. Are you holding your fears or being held by your Father?
Today the thought that jumped out at me was how for forty days Goliath came out every morning and evening and took his stand (1 Samuel 17:16) And I love Peterson’s translation of 1 Samuel 17:11. “When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.” When Satan taunts you do you feel terrified? Do you loose all hope? That is how many of us have felt in our addiction. What do you fear? Have Satan’s taunts made you think you can never give up this addiction to God? Have you worked step four and inventoried your fears to see what they really are? Charlie, an alcoholic with a lot of days of sobriety, said your fears basically fit into three categories. You are afraid of loosing what you have, you are afraid of not getting what you want, or you have done something wrong and you are afraid of what’s going to happen when you get caught. When I see my fears fitting into those categories I also see it fitting into one big category. I am not God and I am afraid God can't do as good of a job at being God as I think I can. Idolatry. Misplaced worship. Unbelief.
Here is the hope we have. First, remember that “although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.” Now, remember that our Lord was tempted in the desert for 40 days. That's the exact number of days Goliath taunted Israel. Satan went after him with attack after attack…………and Jesus was victorious! If we are in Christ we don’t fight this battle without hope!
Are you trying to defeat Goliath on your own so that God will be proud of you? Remember, if you are his adopted child he has given you all of the holiness of Christ. That is better than any holiness you can muster up on your own, which is actually no holiness at all. When God sees you, He sees Jesus. You cannot be any more loved by God or pleasing to God than that. Max Lucado said, “God loves you just the way you are but he doesn’t want to leave you that way. He wants to make you just like Jesus.” God will fight for you if you are willing to give up the fears to him, give up the fight to him, and rest in his arms. Are you holding your fears or being held by your Father?
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Numbers 9 thoughts
I love the interaction going on in Numbers 9. Some people approach Moses asking him some “what if” questions. I am a “what if question” kind of guy myself. I love to have all of the details to some situations. The people wanted to know what could be done for them if they were ritually unclean on account of a corpse on the day for offering Passover sacrifices. Moses seems to be stumped by their question and does what any good leader does when he doesn’t know the answer. He told them to wait while he asked God and he would get back with them. Wow…quite the humble Moses here. After reading how everything had to be just so in every situation through Leviticus and the beginning of Numbers I would think God would say, nope…if they are unclean on that day they just have to wait until next year. But that is not what he comes back with at all. He tells them they can offer the sacrifice in the second month if they are ritually unclean on the 14th day of the first month and even adds another circumstance that would allow someone to offer their sacrifice in the second month. Wow…God is sounding pretty lax here huh? Well, just when you start to think that, you are confronted with verse 13.
13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.
That man will pay for his sins. WOW. I begin to think, what if I had to pay for my sins. This is where I recall 2 Corinthians 5, stop reading, and lift my head to God and thank him once again for Jesus being my once and for all sacrifice. My Passover sacrifice has been offered, he was perfect, and he counted for all of the sins of all of God’s children for all time! I do not have to worry about ever having to pay for my sins because the highest price possible has been paid already. I may have consequences of my sins but that is God disciplining a child he loves in order to make me more like Jesus. God is not lax on sin. Payment must be made and payment has been made, once and for all in Christ. So today, God does not count my sins against me and he has even gone a step further to give me the righteousness of Christ and made me an ambassador of that message.
13 “But a man who is ritually clean and is not off on a trip and still fails to celebrate the Passover must be cut off from his people because he did not present God’s offering at the set time. That man will pay for his sin.
That man will pay for his sins. WOW. I begin to think, what if I had to pay for my sins. This is where I recall 2 Corinthians 5, stop reading, and lift my head to God and thank him once again for Jesus being my once and for all sacrifice. My Passover sacrifice has been offered, he was perfect, and he counted for all of the sins of all of God’s children for all time! I do not have to worry about ever having to pay for my sins because the highest price possible has been paid already. I may have consequences of my sins but that is God disciplining a child he loves in order to make me more like Jesus. God is not lax on sin. Payment must be made and payment has been made, once and for all in Christ. So today, God does not count my sins against me and he has even gone a step further to give me the righteousness of Christ and made me an ambassador of that message.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Good Words to Remember - Love
“Love Came Down at Christmas” is a very popular Christmas hymn. In it, Christ is lifted up as the physical embodiment of love and the hearers are called to remember that and celebrate it especially during the Christmas season. What shapes your understanding of love? If the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ isn't the basis of your understanding of love, then you view of love will always be slanted and unstable.
When it comes to the Christmas story, love is all around, even from the very announcement of Jesus’ birth. Gabrielle went to Mary and told her, “Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). This can be translated, “Rejoice (be glad), graceful one (charming one, beautiful one, highly favored one), the Lord is with you.” The next verse says that these words troubled Mary. It was not the angel’s presence that troubled Mary, it was the angel’s words that troubled Mary. She did not believe that God would think that highly of her, that lovingly of her.
Do you really believe God loves you? In the last “Good Words to Remember” we saw how we are God’s beloved. Have you been thinking about that since you read it? Many churches have been talking about the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love these past few weeks. Love is the basis of these other virtues. Without a belief that God loves us how can we have any hope for the future, any peace with our past, or any joy in our present circumstances? When you have hit bottom, when you feel like the lowest of the low, do you still believe God loves you? Jeremiah says, in Lamentations 3:
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
If you feel like you have lost your grip on hope, like you don’t have peace with your past, or like you don’t have joy in your present circumstances, ask yourself where you are in your belief in God’s love for you. For many, it is fear that is holding them back from believing that God loves them. They fear that they are not good enough for God’s love, like they have not earned God’s love. We never will be good enough for God’s love and we never will earn God’s love but God loves us because he is so good and he gives good gifts to all.
Gabrielle immediately addressed Mary’s fear, called her by name (letting her know he knew exactly who he was talking to), and told her God was with her, even in her low, despised, state. By the end of the conversation, we see Mary at peace with God’s plan for her, hoping in the future birth of Jesus, and running off in joy to tell Elizabeth all about it. She says, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has regarded my low estate.” True worship only comes when we realize that God regards/loves us, even in our lowest of low.
LOVE – A good word to remember.
When it comes to the Christmas story, love is all around, even from the very announcement of Jesus’ birth. Gabrielle went to Mary and told her, “Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). This can be translated, “Rejoice (be glad), graceful one (charming one, beautiful one, highly favored one), the Lord is with you.” The next verse says that these words troubled Mary. It was not the angel’s presence that troubled Mary, it was the angel’s words that troubled Mary. She did not believe that God would think that highly of her, that lovingly of her.
Do you really believe God loves you? In the last “Good Words to Remember” we saw how we are God’s beloved. Have you been thinking about that since you read it? Many churches have been talking about the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love these past few weeks. Love is the basis of these other virtues. Without a belief that God loves us how can we have any hope for the future, any peace with our past, or any joy in our present circumstances? When you have hit bottom, when you feel like the lowest of the low, do you still believe God loves you? Jeremiah says, in Lamentations 3:
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
If you feel like you have lost your grip on hope, like you don’t have peace with your past, or like you don’t have joy in your present circumstances, ask yourself where you are in your belief in God’s love for you. For many, it is fear that is holding them back from believing that God loves them. They fear that they are not good enough for God’s love, like they have not earned God’s love. We never will be good enough for God’s love and we never will earn God’s love but God loves us because he is so good and he gives good gifts to all.
Gabrielle immediately addressed Mary’s fear, called her by name (letting her know he knew exactly who he was talking to), and told her God was with her, even in her low, despised, state. By the end of the conversation, we see Mary at peace with God’s plan for her, hoping in the future birth of Jesus, and running off in joy to tell Elizabeth all about it. She says, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has regarded my low estate.” True worship only comes when we realize that God regards/loves us, even in our lowest of low.
LOVE – A good word to remember.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Good Words to Remember - Beloved
Beloved
Do you hear this word often? It is not a word that is used very often today, but it should be. In the very short book of Jude it is used four times to speak of those who are called by the Father and kept in Jesus Christ. Dear brother or sister in Christ, do you really believe that you are the beloved of God? Of course you can say that you love him and he is love, but do you really believe he loves you? Does he love you, warts and all, with all of your imperfections on the outside and the inside? Remember, he can see the inmost parts of you, the things you hide from everyone else. He sees past façade you construct to get the approval of others. He sees past it and says, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” (Romans 9:25)
A prolific writer on the love of God (Brennan Manning) said, “I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a tea cup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.” We lose sight of the gospel so often and go back to thinking we can somehow earn his approval by the devotionals we read, the amount of Scripture we read, or the amount of time we pray. The truth is that if you are an adopted child of God, even though you cannot comprehend it, you are called his “people” and his “beloved” not based on anything you do, but based on the accomplished work of Christ on the cross.
Are you having a bad day today? Have you gotten caught in a cycle of shame that you think you will never get out of? Do you think you are no longer his “beloved?” That is a lie of the Enemy, trying to get you to trade in a relationship based on grace for a routine based on works. Remember that you have something that can never be taken away from you, something that is a gift from the creator of life. It is an enormous gift to be called his “beloved.” Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of that as you go through your day today and him to reveal ways in which you can pass his love to others because you are his beloved.
Beloved – A good word to remember.
Do you hear this word often? It is not a word that is used very often today, but it should be. In the very short book of Jude it is used four times to speak of those who are called by the Father and kept in Jesus Christ. Dear brother or sister in Christ, do you really believe that you are the beloved of God? Of course you can say that you love him and he is love, but do you really believe he loves you? Does he love you, warts and all, with all of your imperfections on the outside and the inside? Remember, he can see the inmost parts of you, the things you hide from everyone else. He sees past façade you construct to get the approval of others. He sees past it and says, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” (Romans 9:25)
A prolific writer on the love of God (Brennan Manning) said, “I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a tea cup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God.” We lose sight of the gospel so often and go back to thinking we can somehow earn his approval by the devotionals we read, the amount of Scripture we read, or the amount of time we pray. The truth is that if you are an adopted child of God, even though you cannot comprehend it, you are called his “people” and his “beloved” not based on anything you do, but based on the accomplished work of Christ on the cross.
Are you having a bad day today? Have you gotten caught in a cycle of shame that you think you will never get out of? Do you think you are no longer his “beloved?” That is a lie of the Enemy, trying to get you to trade in a relationship based on grace for a routine based on works. Remember that you have something that can never be taken away from you, something that is a gift from the creator of life. It is an enormous gift to be called his “beloved.” Ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of that as you go through your day today and him to reveal ways in which you can pass his love to others because you are his beloved.
Beloved – A good word to remember.
Monday, November 16, 2009
FALL 2009 Brennan Manning in Birmingham, AL (session 1)
I finally got to meet the famous author of one of the greatest books I have ever read, Brennan Manning. I actually still have a few pages to go in The Ragamuffin Gospel. I cannot believe I am just now reading this book! I am going to post my notes from the four sessions over the course of this week. Here are the notes from session one. Know that these are rough notes, not a manuscript by any means. Some of the thoughts seem to just cut off…that is a combination of my wondering mind and the way Brennan spoke. I literally thought he was going to pass out a few times, especially on Friday night. Many of the things he said are well worth repeating and I hope they are things I will be sharing with others and living myself for the rest of my life.
My books have aimed at dispelling myths of God and helping them experience the God of Jesus Christ. This is the main business of Christianity.
God’s love is so great that he will no allow us to keep false images, not mater how much they comfort us.
The truth of the intimate love of God is echoed in the unique love of God. God loves me as I really am, a bundle of paradoxes and contradictions.
Aristotle says I’m a rational animal. I say I’m an angel with a capacity for beer.
Do you believe that God loves you so much that he would rather die than be without you?
Feb 8 1956 – In a 4 hour experience of Gods passionate love for me. It changed the entire direction of my life.
Do you believe that God loves you? That he is crazy about you? If not, you are projecting onto Jesus your own negative thoughts about yourself.
Do you believe that God loves you as you are and not as you should be? Nobody in this building is how you should be. Only you can answer that question. It is the sheer work of Grace for us to live in the house of love rather than in the house of fear.
My books have aimed at dispelling myths of God and helping them experience the God of Jesus Christ. This is the main business of Christianity.
God’s love is so great that he will no allow us to keep false images, not mater how much they comfort us.
The truth of the intimate love of God is echoed in the unique love of God. God loves me as I really am, a bundle of paradoxes and contradictions.
Aristotle says I’m a rational animal. I say I’m an angel with a capacity for beer.
Do you believe that God loves you so much that he would rather die than be without you?
Feb 8 1956 – In a 4 hour experience of Gods passionate love for me. It changed the entire direction of my life.
Do you believe that God loves you? That he is crazy about you? If not, you are projecting onto Jesus your own negative thoughts about yourself.
Do you believe that God loves you as you are and not as you should be? Nobody in this building is how you should be. Only you can answer that question. It is the sheer work of Grace for us to live in the house of love rather than in the house of fear.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Good Words to Remember - Meaningful
Over and over in Ecclesiastes, King Solomon repeats the exact opposite of this word. He shouts it four times in his opening sentence, saying, “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’”
If you give Ecclesiastes a mere surface reading, you will walk away thinking it is a very depressing book. You must look deeper. Solomon had everything he could have wanted, materially, but he found it all to be meaningless…under the sun. Many theologians say this phrase means “apart from God.” When realized as such, Solomon’s words wake us up to the reality that we can have all of the earthly pleasures that advertisements and commercials tell us we need, but as long as we are pursuing them “under the sun” it will be a meaningless pursuit.
A meaningful life is lived when we do all things, even eating and drinking, not “under the sun” but “through the Son” because “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). “Under the sun” even the loftiest of the world’s delights are meaningless but “through the Son” even the lowest of the world’s duties are meaningful.
Meaningful – a good word to remember.
If you give Ecclesiastes a mere surface reading, you will walk away thinking it is a very depressing book. You must look deeper. Solomon had everything he could have wanted, materially, but he found it all to be meaningless…under the sun. Many theologians say this phrase means “apart from God.” When realized as such, Solomon’s words wake us up to the reality that we can have all of the earthly pleasures that advertisements and commercials tell us we need, but as long as we are pursuing them “under the sun” it will be a meaningless pursuit.
A meaningful life is lived when we do all things, even eating and drinking, not “under the sun” but “through the Son” because “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). “Under the sun” even the loftiest of the world’s delights are meaningless but “through the Son” even the lowest of the world’s duties are meaningful.
Meaningful – a good word to remember.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Humility vs. Humiliation
Nothing says power struggle like those two little letters put together…“vs”. Life seems to be so much of a power struggle sometimes and it is exactly that struggle that leads so many into the addictive cycle they so want to have power over.
What is the difference between humility and humiliation? I was with a group of friends a few days ago and this topic came up. Don’t you wish you had my friends? One of my older and wiser friends, who is often known as being
once again worded it perfectly…I will not do so here…so, here is my paraphrase…Humility comes from within and humiliation comes from without. To unpack that, humility is something that is an inner gift of the Spirit while humiliation is something that Bret Favre wanted the Packers to feel last night in MNF.
So I started thinking…maybe the more humility we accept, ask for, and cultivate in our own souls, the less someone else has the power to humiliate us. Humiliation, a synonym of shame is one of the main drivers of the addiction cycle but if we continue to humble ourselves before our Maker, he will lift us up above the accusations of the many who are trying to shame us – even the ones who don’t even know that is what they are doing.
I have had a long streak of sobriety, longer than I have had in a long time and the Enemy is taking this as an opportune time to try out some old lies on me to see if I, maybe getting somewhat prideful of my sobriety, might believe them again. He is saying, you are married now so you are fine. You don’t need “accountability” anymore. What did it do for you anyways?
It is only humbling myself before my Maker, remembering that my life has become unmanageable but because of his grace I have been redeemed and will be sustained to the day when all evil is gone, that I will be able to go throughout my day avoiding the ambushes the Enemy is setting for me. The Enemy wants to ambush me, trap me, and leave me wounded so that I might go back to my old medication cycle, which is a trap in itself.
Derek Webb says it well. “I don’t want medication just give me liberation even if it cuts my legs right out from underneath don’t give me medication I want the real sensation even when living feels just like death to me.”
What is the difference between humility and humiliation? I was with a group of friends a few days ago and this topic came up. Don’t you wish you had my friends? One of my older and wiser friends, who is often known as being
once again worded it perfectly…I will not do so here…so, here is my paraphrase…Humility comes from within and humiliation comes from without. To unpack that, humility is something that is an inner gift of the Spirit while humiliation is something that Bret Favre wanted the Packers to feel last night in MNF. So I started thinking…maybe the more humility we accept, ask for, and cultivate in our own souls, the less someone else has the power to humiliate us. Humiliation, a synonym of shame is one of the main drivers of the addiction cycle but if we continue to humble ourselves before our Maker, he will lift us up above the accusations of the many who are trying to shame us – even the ones who don’t even know that is what they are doing.
I have had a long streak of sobriety, longer than I have had in a long time and the Enemy is taking this as an opportune time to try out some old lies on me to see if I, maybe getting somewhat prideful of my sobriety, might believe them again. He is saying, you are married now so you are fine. You don’t need “accountability” anymore. What did it do for you anyways?
It is only humbling myself before my Maker, remembering that my life has become unmanageable but because of his grace I have been redeemed and will be sustained to the day when all evil is gone, that I will be able to go throughout my day avoiding the ambushes the Enemy is setting for me. The Enemy wants to ambush me, trap me, and leave me wounded so that I might go back to my old medication cycle, which is a trap in itself.
Derek Webb says it well. “I don’t want medication just give me liberation even if it cuts my legs right out from underneath don’t give me medication I want the real sensation even when living feels just like death to me.”
Monday, July 13, 2009
Where Do You Get Your Ideas About Sex?
I was reading one of my favorite Birmingham publications (Black&White) and ran across this article about a sex theme park. What?! A sex theme park? Yep, China, a place where apparently talk about sex isn’t as wide spread as it is in these parts of the world was actually going to build a Six Flags of Sex. Hmmm… Of course the Chinese government wasn’t having any of that so they put the kibosh on that project, even making them take down the huge mannequin one would have to have walked through the legs of to enter the park. Think the story is over? Think again. It turns out that while the Chinese Love Land was getting all of this press there is a Love Land in South Korea that is open for business and has been for five years. Yep, we kept part of Korea free from Communist tyranny and look what they have used their freedom to do. Well, that’s one thing to do I guess.
So all of this brings me back to the original question. Where do you get your ideas about what sex is? It seems that in a part of the world where sex is a taboo subject for public discussion the pendulum is swinging to the opposite end. Now sex is the theme of a sculpture park. We have been kicking this question around at Tapestry now that we are entering out Summer of Love series of teachings through the Song of Songs. For me personally, I cannot remember sex being talked about in church, at home, or in my Christian school beyond the admonition to not do it before marriage and then only do it with the person you are married to. That’s it. What do you think the typical teenage response to that is going to be? OK. Got that. Nuff said. NO WAY! Especially when I was hearing all kinds of stuff about sex from my friends at school, and on TV. I was looking up anatomical terms and the word “sex” in the dictionary and in the encyclopedia and when I got to 11, I was spending more time at my friends houses who had Sinemax or Playboy magazines around. And of course there was the music I was listening to in my “Walkman”. Snoop Doggy Dog and EZ E were my teachers then. Now, of course I knew there was a difference between sex and romance. Where did I learn about romance? Boys II Men were my teachers there. I’ll Make Love to You was one of my favorite songs. Still, all I heard from home or church was, “sex is for marriage.” That’s it. I know I’m not the only one here. This is the USUAL story of people growing up in the church.
So, now we at TOH are going through the Song of Songs, seeing what the Bible has to say about sex and romance. It turns out that God actually has a lot to say about this invention of his, actually advising us on how to use it properly, beyond the admonition not to do it outside of marriage. WOW!
Give a listen to this sermon series and jump in on the conversation over at TOH Community to let us know what you think.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Im Just A Restaurant Prophet With My Hands In My Pockets
Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to. John 4:35-45 from The Message.
Yesterday I was reading this passage in John and as I meditated on it I was brought back to the memory of when I was working on my undergrad degree in the thriving metropolis of Kosciusko, MS (the birth place of Oprah Winfrey) and was preaching at small church in Laurel, MS every week (twice on Sundays). When I was in Laurel and increasingly as I traveled across the state representing the college, my reputation began to build and I was becoming a respected up and coming Bible teacher / preacher. But, when I went home to Mobile, AL, to the church I grew up in, I was just a college kid home for the weekend. This verse brought comfort to me because I loved the fact that I was experiencing something Jesus experienced.
The thing is, I wonder why it was that I was just a college kid home for the weekend in one city and in the next state over I was having more speaking requests than I could fill (now this isn't bragging because I average about five speaking requests a year now and that is normally when someone is really desperate). Was it because they knew me better in Mobile? Was it that they know all of the silly things I have done, so it is hard for them to respect me? Maybe. I feel like the less somebody knows me, the more I keep the relationship a relationship of preacher and congregant, preacher and student, or whatever you want to call it, the more the person respects me and comes to me for advice. Maybe that is true and maybe it isn't. I know that there are kids from the various Birmingham ministries I have been a part of that still come to me and respect me even though they have certainly seen some of my ridiculousness. Whatever the case is, I need to know that people are watching me and I need to do my best to glorify Christ and lift him up. If I do that and people don’t respect me, then so be it. But, if I do not do that, then I have no right to complain when people don’t respect me. This has a lot to do with my situation at work.
I tell you what, working in the restaurant industry is a strain on my Christian witness. It is a place where I experience rejection coming from all angles and have plenty of down time to gossip and complain about people. You think gossip happens at an old lady’s bridge game? I have heard, and yes, been a part of, more gossip around the soda machine at a restaurant than I could have ever imagined. It is a culture at the restaurant and it is so hard not to get sucked up into it. It is just one of the examples of how stuff can hit you from out of nowhere and one (insert me here) can go from a reputation of being “oh that preacher who just started working here we better stop cussing around” to “just another guy that gossips and I couldn’t even tell he was an different from us.” I think the person I want to be known for, the type of “prophet’s respect” I am looking for, is somewhere in between those two things. I mean, if people just respect me when they really have no clue who I am or what I'm up to, that is really no respect at all is it? Where is the reality in that? There is no reality. I want something that is REAL.
God help us as we navigate those waters, trying to stay in the fairway between the roughs. What I need to remember is that when I get in the rough water of my mistakes, sins, addictions, obsessions, etc..., I have an awesome opportunity to lift Jesus high! Living in the fairway all of the time, something I'm never going to do since it is impossible, normally just leads to SELF glorification. So, while I pray that God will keep me in the fairway by his grace, when I wander off course, I pray that God will show me how when I am weak he is strong and how he can be glorified in the midst of my mistakes. I also know that because of the sanctification work going on in my life I can be brought back to the smooth waters of the fairway…until I drift off again
Copy and paste this link below into your browser to hear the Derek Webb station on Pandora I have been working on. I love it!
http://broadcaster.pandora.com/t?r=927&c=0&l=37961&ctl=171ABB0:B375FAE8D7699F913F36FB2C8E97A6D9&
Yesterday I was reading this passage in John and as I meditated on it I was brought back to the memory of when I was working on my undergrad degree in the thriving metropolis of Kosciusko, MS (the birth place of Oprah Winfrey) and was preaching at small church in Laurel, MS every week (twice on Sundays). When I was in Laurel and increasingly as I traveled across the state representing the college, my reputation began to build and I was becoming a respected up and coming Bible teacher / preacher. But, when I went home to Mobile, AL, to the church I grew up in, I was just a college kid home for the weekend. This verse brought comfort to me because I loved the fact that I was experiencing something Jesus experienced.
The thing is, I wonder why it was that I was just a college kid home for the weekend in one city and in the next state over I was having more speaking requests than I could fill (now this isn't bragging because I average about five speaking requests a year now and that is normally when someone is really desperate). Was it because they knew me better in Mobile? Was it that they know all of the silly things I have done, so it is hard for them to respect me? Maybe. I feel like the less somebody knows me, the more I keep the relationship a relationship of preacher and congregant, preacher and student, or whatever you want to call it, the more the person respects me and comes to me for advice. Maybe that is true and maybe it isn't. I know that there are kids from the various Birmingham ministries I have been a part of that still come to me and respect me even though they have certainly seen some of my ridiculousness. Whatever the case is, I need to know that people are watching me and I need to do my best to glorify Christ and lift him up. If I do that and people don’t respect me, then so be it. But, if I do not do that, then I have no right to complain when people don’t respect me. This has a lot to do with my situation at work.
I tell you what, working in the restaurant industry is a strain on my Christian witness. It is a place where I experience rejection coming from all angles and have plenty of down time to gossip and complain about people. You think gossip happens at an old lady’s bridge game? I have heard, and yes, been a part of, more gossip around the soda machine at a restaurant than I could have ever imagined. It is a culture at the restaurant and it is so hard not to get sucked up into it. It is just one of the examples of how stuff can hit you from out of nowhere and one (insert me here) can go from a reputation of being “oh that preacher who just started working here we better stop cussing around” to “just another guy that gossips and I couldn’t even tell he was an different from us.” I think the person I want to be known for, the type of “prophet’s respect” I am looking for, is somewhere in between those two things. I mean, if people just respect me when they really have no clue who I am or what I'm up to, that is really no respect at all is it? Where is the reality in that? There is no reality. I want something that is REAL.
God help us as we navigate those waters, trying to stay in the fairway between the roughs. What I need to remember is that when I get in the rough water of my mistakes, sins, addictions, obsessions, etc..., I have an awesome opportunity to lift Jesus high! Living in the fairway all of the time, something I'm never going to do since it is impossible, normally just leads to SELF glorification. So, while I pray that God will keep me in the fairway by his grace, when I wander off course, I pray that God will show me how when I am weak he is strong and how he can be glorified in the midst of my mistakes. I also know that because of the sanctification work going on in my life I can be brought back to the smooth waters of the fairway…until I drift off again
Copy and paste this link below into your browser to hear the Derek Webb station on Pandora I have been working on. I love it!
http://broadcaster.pandora.com/t?r=927&c=0&l=37961&ctl=171ABB0:B375FAE8D7699F913F36FB2C8E97A6D9&
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The Village Psalms Bible Study
Last night I met up with some of the guys from The Village to study the Psalms as I have been doing every Monday for about eight weeks now. The last two times we met, it was at Starbucks in Five Points South…where you can run into some for real characters! We have been sitting at the tables outside because the weather has been so nice and both weeks someone has been walking by and has heard us talking and asked if he could join us. We had a really cool guy, Tony, join us last night. Tony, like our friend from the week before, got really antsy when he saw the Birmingham Police pulling someone over just a few yards from where we were sitting….he didn’t tell us exactly why. What he did tell us was that years ago he would read the Bible every night and fall asleep holding his Bible. He told us that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to be part of a discussion about the Bible but he would try. About an hour in he asked us if we did this every Monday and asked if he could join us next week. As he walked away, Rob asked him how we could be praying for him. He asked us to be praying for his soul to get right with God. So, be praying for Tony. I hope he was blessed in some way by our discussion of the Psalms.
So, what did we actually discuss? This week we got into the categories/genres of the Psalms. They wanted to talk about some of the things I am learning in seminary and that was the first things Mark got into in our Psalms class at Beeson. I wanted to show them 3 main things…what a preacher I am…
1. The importance of realizing categories and how we use them everyday
2. That we cannot understand the categories of the Psalms as easily as we understand the categories we use everyday.
3. How to recognize what category a particular Psalm is in and what to do with that knowledge.
I think my favorite part of the discussion was that right around us there was a great example of what I was teaching (Starbucks, The Original Pancake House, and Surin West). We all understood that if we come downtown at 6:00 am we would only expect to get bacon and eggs at one of those places and we would only expect to get a cup of coffee and a muffin at one of those places. If we went there at 6:00 pm we would only expect two of those places to be open and would only expect to get a meal (a delicious meal covered in curry) at one of those places. Without knowing categories of restaurants, and what category those three restaurants fit into, we would be messed up. My next move was to point out how naturally we understood those categories and tell them that we cannot expect that we know the categories of the Psalms that intuitively.
Then, only having time to analyze one category of Psalms, we discussed praise psalms, particularly looking at Psalm 103. I love the last verse of the Psalm, Psalm 103:22. There he moves from telling all of creation to praise God to telling himself to praise God, which is exactly how he begins. Wouldn’t it be awesome if all preachers preached like this? David admonished himself from the beginning, wasn’t afraid to give that same admonishment to the gathered community (and even all created things), and then said again how he needed to obey the commandment. I find that it is sometimes easy to think of what others should do without realizing my own wandering heart. At the beginning of the day and at the end of the day my focus must be on whether or not MY SOUL is praising the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
So, what did we actually discuss? This week we got into the categories/genres of the Psalms. They wanted to talk about some of the things I am learning in seminary and that was the first things Mark got into in our Psalms class at Beeson. I wanted to show them 3 main things…what a preacher I am…
1. The importance of realizing categories and how we use them everyday
2. That we cannot understand the categories of the Psalms as easily as we understand the categories we use everyday.
3. How to recognize what category a particular Psalm is in and what to do with that knowledge.
I think my favorite part of the discussion was that right around us there was a great example of what I was teaching (Starbucks, The Original Pancake House, and Surin West). We all understood that if we come downtown at 6:00 am we would only expect to get bacon and eggs at one of those places and we would only expect to get a cup of coffee and a muffin at one of those places. If we went there at 6:00 pm we would only expect two of those places to be open and would only expect to get a meal (a delicious meal covered in curry) at one of those places. Without knowing categories of restaurants, and what category those three restaurants fit into, we would be messed up. My next move was to point out how naturally we understood those categories and tell them that we cannot expect that we know the categories of the Psalms that intuitively.
Then, only having time to analyze one category of Psalms, we discussed praise psalms, particularly looking at Psalm 103. I love the last verse of the Psalm, Psalm 103:22. There he moves from telling all of creation to praise God to telling himself to praise God, which is exactly how he begins. Wouldn’t it be awesome if all preachers preached like this? David admonished himself from the beginning, wasn’t afraid to give that same admonishment to the gathered community (and even all created things), and then said again how he needed to obey the commandment. I find that it is sometimes easy to think of what others should do without realizing my own wandering heart. At the beginning of the day and at the end of the day my focus must be on whether or not MY SOUL is praising the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Help With The Hamper
I think I have always been one of those people that was pretty eager to accept help. I think it goes back to this trip I was on when I was like 11 years old. My Mother, who has always been directionally challenged, was driving us from Mobile, AL to Columbus, MS. Now I know that is not a far drive at all, but then, I thought it was forever away. To make matters worse, there were large detours because of a bridge that was out. So, not only was my Mom not sure where she was going, now she was taking even less traveled roads to get there. At one point, after we had been on the road for hours, we saw the sign welcoming us back to Alabama. I don’t know if it was the downpour of rain, my screaming little sister in the car seat next to me, or the fact that I had watched too many horror movies about people getting lost in the country, but for some reason, seeing that sign welcoming us back to Alabama and knowing we were far from home made me panic. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t pull over and ask someone at a gas station for directions, though at this point, this far from the main road, I wasn’t too sure about that option either. So, I have never been afraid to ask someone where something is or admit that I have no idea what the answer is to a question, which isn’t a good thing when my manager is asking me questions about the new menu items and I seem as if I could care less what the answer is. I really do care; I’m just honest about it when I don’t fully know it, rather than trying to BS my way through it.
Last night I was standing up at the host/hostess stand at Brock’s and I saw a woman, who I knew was a guest in our restaurant, walking toward me. Eager to act is if I was taking care of company business and always ready to help the guest, I locked eyes with this woman and asked if she was looking for the restroom. She looked at me as if I had just asked her if she knew where her own head was and sternly told me, “It is through those doors. I know exactly where it is.” Taken aback by this, I told her, “Well there is a mirror in there and you might want to take a look in it before you return.” Not really. But it would have been pretty sweet if I would have. It was as if she was so irritated that I would think that she didn’t know where the restroom was and that I would offer to help her by telling her where it is.
I think we find this problem in churches a lot today. We all walk in like we don’t need help or if we do, it is only a little bit of help. I'm doing great brother! Great! How are you!? Galatians 6:2 Paul commands Christians to carry each other’s burdens. One of the things that struck me about that when I read it a few days ago was the context of Galatians 6:1-5. This is a spiritual brother/sister restoring someone who has been tempted and is caught in a sin. I don’t think this is “catch me if you can” kind of caught but “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” kind of caught. When are churches going to be the places where people admit their struggles and believe that real spiritual restoration will occur because the Holy Spirit is going to work through Christian family? When is John going to be transparent with the community and tell us what sins he is caught in and what burdens he needs the community to help him carry rather than telling us what sins his neighbor or family member is dealing with. When I guest preach at churches and preach on the prodigal son, I always hear stories of how someone is a prodigal that needs to come home. The kicker is that it is always some telling about someone else who is a prodigal who needs to come home. The person talking to me never thinks he/she is the prodigal!
Where does this start? This starts with the leaders and teachers in the church being transparent and honest about struggles in their lives. We don’t have to air out every bit of our dirty laundry but to act as if it is all clean in that hamper is a lie, a lie that Satan will be glad to help you keep up as long as possible. What dirty secrets are in your hamper? Do you have anybody in your life you feel is safe enough to confess to (James 5:16)? Is anybody in your life safe? Do people think you are a safe person to confess to?
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sweet Monday Action
This has been a great day! I am still pumped about last night, I am actually getting pulled in to the inauguration hype, and I am watching a MLK documentary (KING) in celebration of MLK day.
I posted Tal's sermon from last night here.
I posted Tal Prince Live from last night here.
(My heart sinks as I watch a national cable channel recount the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church, a horrible tragedy that occurred just a few miles from where I sit and type now.)
Last night was a great night at Tapestry. As we sat and prayed over our gathering (something we do every week for about 20 minutes before the gathering) I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in me, letting me know this was something special we were doing tonight. People often say that as soon as they walk in the room where we worship, they can physically feel the presence of God. That isn’t anything you can conjure or make happen. God just chooses for it to happen and all you can do is be thankful for it and not overlook the wonderful blessing you have. Of course, we are gathered, asking for God’s presence among us and we set the atmosphere as much as we can with lighting and music but in the end, it is God’s decision and I cannot make Him do anything (nor would I want to).
I read Isaiah 44:9-20 from The Message and I could hear that the community was really hearing the words of this Bible passage. Sometimes Peterson hits the ball out of the park and I think his translation of Isaiah 44 is one of those home runs.
Tal used the story of Marcus Schrenker, how he faked his death (and was horrible at it) because he couldn’t keep up the image. He went on to say how we all need to die to our images but many of us are just faking our deaths because somewhere in the Bible we are told to do so.
I wonder if I am faking my death. Oh, I know I am faking my death. Well, it isn’t really faking my death as much as death to self just doesn’t come that easily. I was totally reminded of it last night and this morning as I signed up for Twitter. Now, I kicked against the multiplying wave of people looking for one more way to update everybody on the minutia of life and keep “networked” for long enough but I couldn’t hold out a day longer. I walked down the aisle last night, and I am tweeting with the best of them. I am not one of the best of them mind you…I am just out there tweeting along with them. Immediately I had two followers…at 4:00 am! Then I started looking at how Tal is following just a few more people than is following him and I thought that is the true sign of Twitter fame…when more people are following you than you are following. I thought of cutting the number of people I was following from 30 down to one so I could have twice as many followers as number of people I was following and then saw what must be the ultimate twitter triumph…Donaldmilleris is following one person while . I just thought of this one…if you could keep your number of followers above your number of updates. Nope. Not a good measuring rod. Barack Obama has 165,414 followers and only 264 updates, but he is following 168,134 people, so that whole followers over updates thing isn’t going to work out.
Why do I care so much about all of this? This is my image! This is the image that I hold up so high, thinking the world revolves around me…when clearly it doesn’t. I love looking at my little map on my blog and seeing where in the world people are who are looking at my blog. Who are you in Brazil? Whoever you are…I love you and you do so much for my little idol of an image. Seriously, this is crazy. I have like 9 blog readers and I think it is some kind of big deal and I am worried about how many people are going to follow me on Twitter now. So, now I am off to try to make my blog really cool like this guy from Atlanta who’s blog is so cool that they did an article on him in Collide Magazine. I especially love the way he has the little Twitter bird at the top of his blog...I need to get one of those.
I don’t have an image problem…I promise.
I posted Tal's sermon from last night here.
I posted Tal Prince Live from last night here.
(My heart sinks as I watch a national cable channel recount the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church, a horrible tragedy that occurred just a few miles from where I sit and type now.)
Last night was a great night at Tapestry. As we sat and prayed over our gathering (something we do every week for about 20 minutes before the gathering) I could feel the Holy Spirit moving in me, letting me know this was something special we were doing tonight. People often say that as soon as they walk in the room where we worship, they can physically feel the presence of God. That isn’t anything you can conjure or make happen. God just chooses for it to happen and all you can do is be thankful for it and not overlook the wonderful blessing you have. Of course, we are gathered, asking for God’s presence among us and we set the atmosphere as much as we can with lighting and music but in the end, it is God’s decision and I cannot make Him do anything (nor would I want to).
I read Isaiah 44:9-20 from The Message and I could hear that the community was really hearing the words of this Bible passage. Sometimes Peterson hits the ball out of the park and I think his translation of Isaiah 44 is one of those home runs.
Tal used the story of Marcus Schrenker, how he faked his death (and was horrible at it) because he couldn’t keep up the image. He went on to say how we all need to die to our images but many of us are just faking our deaths because somewhere in the Bible we are told to do so.
I wonder if I am faking my death. Oh, I know I am faking my death. Well, it isn’t really faking my death as much as death to self just doesn’t come that easily. I was totally reminded of it last night and this morning as I signed up for Twitter. Now, I kicked against the multiplying wave of people looking for one more way to update everybody on the minutia of life and keep “networked” for long enough but I couldn’t hold out a day longer. I walked down the aisle last night, and I am tweeting with the best of them. I am not one of the best of them mind you…I am just out there tweeting along with them. Immediately I had two followers…at 4:00 am! Then I started looking at how Tal is following just a few more people than is following him and I thought that is the true sign of Twitter fame…when more people are following you than you are following. I thought of cutting the number of people I was following from 30 down to one so I could have twice as many followers as number of people I was following and then saw what must be the ultimate twitter triumph…Donaldmilleris is following one person while . I just thought of this one…if you could keep your number of followers above your number of updates. Nope. Not a good measuring rod. Barack Obama has 165,414 followers and only 264 updates, but he is following 168,134 people, so that whole followers over updates thing isn’t going to work out.
Why do I care so much about all of this? This is my image! This is the image that I hold up so high, thinking the world revolves around me…when clearly it doesn’t. I love looking at my little map on my blog and seeing where in the world people are who are looking at my blog. Who are you in Brazil? Whoever you are…I love you and you do so much for my little idol of an image. Seriously, this is crazy. I have like 9 blog readers and I think it is some kind of big deal and I am worried about how many people are going to follow me on Twitter now. So, now I am off to try to make my blog really cool like this guy from Atlanta who’s blog is so cool that they did an article on him in Collide Magazine. I especially love the way he has the little Twitter bird at the top of his blog...I need to get one of those.
I don’t have an image problem…I promise.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
KC part 1 (Sunday at Jacob's Well)
Today is a really great day in Birmingham. I had a great lunch with Tal and Marc, the weather is great, I posted the first recording of Tal Prince Live since August, and I just picked up my dry cleaning. What could be better? Now I figured it is as good of a time as any to write about my experiences in Kansas City while I was there to visit Becki during the second week in December.
I am going to start with my experiences at Jacob’s Well Church. Here are some pictures of JW that are on Tim Keel's blog. Since I knew I was going to be there that Sunday, I checked out their website, downloaded a few sermons, and familiarized myself somewhat with their staff. It turned out that familiarizing myself with the staff helped out because the regular teaching pastor, Tim Keel, was no preaching that Sunday. Instead, Deth Im was preaching. Deth is one of the associate pastors and he also serves JW as an elder. They were going through the themes of Advent (hope, joy, peace, love) which was awesome because that is exactly what we were doing at Tapestry! That is the kind of stuff that happens when you are following the church calendar, which is something we do a little at Tapestry but I later learned they do a lot at JW.
Deth preached on rejoice, which he said really means to be glad glad because the re prefix intensifies the word joy. One really cool thing they did was give us all tiny bells as we walked in and Deth asked us to ring those bells when we felt like something said or read resonated with us, instead of using our normal evangelical guttural sounds. That was a really cool thing. People rang the bells after Scriptures were read, people rang bells when they resonated with a truth of happy things in our lives and when they rejoiced even in the midst of pains in our lives. The texts he especially used as he taught were the magnificat of Mary in Luke 1 and story of the Israelites rejoicing in Psalm 126. This all led up to the final question of how does your soul magnify the Lord?
This sermon is an awesome sermon. I don’t always say that, so you can trust that I really believe that. Several things I liked:
ª The opening way he involved the entire audience with something fun AND used the context of the interaction as a launching pad for the sermon.
ª The way he shared personal stories, and what Calvin Miller calls his romance with the text. A lot of times preachers get really jacked up about something in the Bible and don’t understand why the congregation doesn’t get that jacked up too. What we don’t realize is that we had a long time of meditating over this passage before we got jacked up over it. Share the journey that you went through as you came to fall in love with this text.
ª The interaction brought by the bells
ª The way we read Psalm 126 out loud together during the sermon and then he invited people to say what they thought was going on there and what the writer of the Psalm was getting at. He used those thought, at almost the exact middle point of the sermon, as a catalyst to bring us to the end of the sermon.
After the sermon, Mike Crawford led us in “The Magnificat” and “Ring Out O Bells”. You really need to check out his Myspace page and get his new CD. I will be writing more on that later.
How does your soul magnify the Lord?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
