A Wedding and a Son-in-law

Since I seem to be bringing this blog up-to-date tonight. Let me report the joy it has been to have Sara and Jonathan decide (August 15, 2009) to marry (October 17,2009). I expected Sara to marry someday...was a little shocked when they started dating in February after she had just turned 19. Over the months of their courtship I became adjusted to the idea and as I got to know Jonathan it became a joy to think Sara found the soul mate she had been missing all her life. They are a good match. They love the Lord and are dedicated to Jesus and the kingdom of God. I was happy for each of them to have each other. They planned their wedding and it was beautiful.

What I didn't realize was how neat it was going to be to have a son-in-law! Since the newlyweds live in Texas and are only 2 hours from us we get to be with them once in awhile. It is a blast!

Prayer Walking in Central Asia

For two weeks this past summer (2009)I had the incredible experience of a trip to Central Asia to pray and serve. It was a team of 8 of us. We met for the first time for team orientation and the next day we were off to CA. The way I described the trip to the two congregations I serve when I came home follows: Imagine none of your neighbors know Jesus. No one near you on your street or in all of Garwood/Eagle Lake have a relationship with Jesus. Imagine that no one in Colorado county knows Jesus. Imagine no one in Texas knows who Jesus is or has a relationship with him. That is what this country is like. No one knows Jesus...well, a few do. In a country a little bigger than the size of Texas there are 5,000 believers in Jesus (stat from a book I read). We were in that country to pray that the way would be prepared for Jesus to be known to the people.

The other senario I described on coming home was to imagine that you believe in Jesus and you live in a country that persecutes people who believe in Jesus. So, to save your life you left your home, extended family, and livlihood and go to another country as a refugee. In the second country you can't work. You have to wait for the UN to tell you what country will take you. Then I tell what I can about the 30-40 people in one city our team met who are refugees. They have a house church. They worship, pray, study, and fellowship together. They wait for the UN to find permanent placements for them.

This prayer journey was a wonderful experience. It was brief. I trust God for the effects of our work there. It continues to effect my life, I know that. I would like to do such a thing again someday, God willing. I continue to pray for the country we visited and the people we met. I miss the team I traveled with. I think it would be good to spend a longer time another time,but I don't know how that would work out.

Mark 8:27-38

Sara called this past Sunday upset because the preacher had dutifully used this text from Mark 8 from the lectionary. He read it all...Jesus and his disciples hiking to the villages of Ceasarea Philippi and on the way asking them "Who do people say that I am?"...Peter's confession "You are the Christ."...Jesus teaching them that he must suffer, be killed, and after three days rise again...Peter objecting to this kind of talk and Jesus saying to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." The preacher even read verses 34-38...And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Since I did not hear the sermon Sara heard, I don't know all the preacher's points. Her objection focused on the fact that when he preached about the sacrifice of taking up one's cross it had to do with things that might "hurt" a little...things like giving a little more money, etc. Sara knew the preacher had opted out of the hard reality of this text. Sara knew that taking up one's cross and following Jesus is not about superficial sacrifices that might or might not cause us a little discomfort. Sara admitted that all the preacher had said about the text was sound as far as it went, but it could have gone so much farther. It needed to go so much farther.

Two days later, I heard a sermon on this text at a preacher's meeting. Another reading of the entire text. Another sermon with content that was sound...as far as it went. This sermon emphasized the knowledge of who Jesus is. While I agree, even we in the church need to acknowledge the Messiah Jesus, this sermon did not even mention, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it..."

I'm with you, Sara. In the church and especially in a room full of preacher's we should know and acknowledge who Jesus is, but we dare not stop there. To stop there and not deal with the self-denial, the cross-bearing that we are called to, the losing of our lives for the sake of Jesus and the gospel IS a denial of Jesus and his word. Lord, have mercy on us!

I think of all of those who have given their lives for the gospel through the millenia. I think of those who have been and are being persecuted today for the proclamation of Jesus the Messiah and his word. When we can't even bring it up in our sermons on this text, what does that say to and about these who have suffered? When we can't or don't or won't bring up the call to sacrificially follow Jesus (not just give a little more in the offering plate) by giving up our lives, what does it say about us? Lord, have mercy on us!

Jesus, was teaching his disciples and the crowd that followed. He was teaching them that to follow him meant to REALLY follow him. He went to the cross. If we are his followers we must also be willing to suffer and die. To be his followers we must also be willing to lose our lives for his sake. To be his followers we must not be ashamed of him and his words. If we can't commit to that, can we call ourselves followers of Jesus?

It isn't that hard to commit to a little discomfort, a small sacrifice of time or money here and there. We in the church in America are great at small, superficial sacrifices. I'm pretty sure that doesn't impress anyone in heaven. When we have the opportunity to preach this text...we dare not blow it!

This morning so far...

I woke up early. Walt said it was the excitement I feel. Maybe so...we are going to have the inspection done on the Centerville house today. I am excited about that house. I am excited about what all the Lord has in mind for us there. I'm expecting the calling to prayer to be manifested in that place. I'm expecting Walt will have his gifts and talents used to the fullest extent. I am feeling the freedom already.

So, I was up and out on the back patio by 7 a.m. and listened, sang, and prayed for an hour with a list of songs I put together from my library. I've been starting my days this way...on the back patio...for awhile now. There is something about being outdoors...don't know exactly what it is, but it is neat!

I sing and pray for "us" and "we" not "I" and "me" so much. Is that what my call is? To pray in a way that includes all the people on earth? This is the air "we" breathe...we need to know you Lord, we need to know our breathe comes from you, we need to acknowledge your Holy Spirit, we need Yeshua Messiah living in us. Thank you heavenly Father for your love and peace, for your joy and the faith you give us to know and experience these things. "Open the flood gates of heaven, let it rain!"

What a blessed morning...and, it's only 8:33 a.m. Smile!

Parable of the Sower and Soils

Mark 4:1-20 is a parable Jesus told and his explanation of it. I've read this parable many times, heard sermons on it, probably preached sermons on it, taught Bible Studies about it and meditated on this scripture. Today as I read it, I thought of myself not as one of the types of soil as I have always done previously. This time I thought of myself as the sower. Jesus doesn't say in his explanation of the parable who the sower is. He simply said, "The sower sows the word." As a follower of Jesus I sow the word daily. Sowing the word does not just happen when someone preaches it or teaches it. Sowing the word is done even when we live it in our day to day lives.

While talking with a couple of friends the other day. One expressed frustration over not being able to assure the outcome. Basically, she was saying she wanted those on whom she sowed the word to receive it and produce bountiful crops. I shared my thoughts with her that it is not our part to assure the outcome. Now after being reminded of this parable I would say it this way...it is our part to sow the seed. We sowers can't make anyone be good soil. Some of the seed we sow might end up being eaten by the birds, scorched by the sun, or choked by thorns. Our work is to sow the word. The outcome is God's work.

more on prayer

Jesus told his listeners in Matthew 7:7 and 8, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." In the next three verses he gets ridiculous to make his point. He said when our children ask for bread...we don't give them stones. He said when our children ask for fish...we don't give them snakes. He said if you "evil" ones "know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" What are the good things the Father has in his storehouse? To name a few: forgiveness, eternal life, joy, peace, love, grace, mercy, strength... I mean! The Father DOES have tons of good for those who ask, seek, and knock!

Disciples and Prayer

When learning prayer, when discussing prayer, when praying...where should the disciple of Jesus Christ go for authority on the subject? How about going to Jesus? I just read and prayed my way through Matthew 5-7. Jesus' teachings are grouped together in Matthew and this is the first of those groupings. It is the first mention of prayer in Matthew's gospel. Jesus teaches first that we are to pray humbly and privately unlike the "hypocrites" he mentioned who prayed publically so all could see their piousness. (6:5ff) Then he compares the prayer of a disciple with "Gentiles" who had a repitious and many worded way of praying that was not effective. Jesus then spoke these words, "so do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.") NASV

Could it be, that we disciples have taken prayer and made it more difficult, more complicated, more unattainable than Jesus teaches it to be? Oh, there is more on prayer in scritpure. This isn't the only teaching on prayer even in this particular discourse in Matthew...see chapter 7 verses 7-11. Certainly, the teaching on the practice of prayer continues to be a theme of the scriptures especially of the New Testament. Maybe future posts will include some of these. This is enough to think about and pray for now.

At what point does following Jesus trump personal comfort?

I have always been one to look out for my own personal comfort. I like a comfortable bed to sleep in. I have preferences in the food I eat. There is a certain style of clothes I like to wear. I have a nice car to drive, I'm even picky about the horses I ride. I live in a country that is comfortable (for the most part). I mean...I could go on and on. I am grateful for all of these things. I don't take them for granted. As a disciple of Jesus, though, I'm being convicted about my concern for personal comfort when there is such an apparent need in this world for people to hear about and be invited to receive him. I am being convicted that there is more to discipleship that my own personal comfort. When I look back over my life, will I be satisfied that I lived a comfortable life? No, I think I will have missed out on something if all I had was comfort. In the Bible, Jesus' words and warnings to his followers were not that they were to seek to live the comfortable life, but that they were to take up their cross, abide in Him and do the works that he did. He admitted this would inevitably bring persecution. That doesn't sound very comfortable to me. It is still his word to his followers today, though, and it is a word I want to heed. Lord, as you call me to paths of service where I need to forego my comfort may I go willingly and joyfully. It is for the progress of the Kingdom on the earth and the benefit of those who will receive you as a result of my obedience. May you, Oh Lord, receive all the honor and glory due you. Amen

The 20-minute version of Jesus' ministry...

I've read the gospel accounts of Jesus' life over and over and it only barely occurred to me that though the accounts are exciting and meaningful they don't tell it all. John even said so in his gospel..."And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." (21:25) So, I have to say I've known that, but maybe it didn't click with me until recently when I was preparing a sermon on Mark 1:14-20.

I got to thinking about the pageants children do at Christmas time to commemorate the birth of Jesus. In 20-minutes they have angels appearing to shepherds, Mary and Joseph looking for lodging and getting offered the stable, the baby's birth, the shepherds visit, AND the wise men. The whole story is condensed into 20 minutes, with a few Christmas carols sung by the congregation, so afterward we can go home and open presents or eat a scrumptous meal with the extended family.

That is how the writers of the gospels wrote about Jesus' life. Granted it takes longer than 20 minutes to read each gospel, but they are condensed versions of his life with special emphasis on his ministry years. While reading Mark 1:14-20 for that sermon, it was impressed upon me that I could imagine that this incident took place in a context of time. Just as any other aspect of the gospel, it didn't happen in 20 minutes real time. (Don't ask me why I picked 20 minutes...I just did, that's all.)

Jesus had moved to Capernaum from Nazareth. Capernaum was now home to Jesus. It was also home to Andrew and Simon. A nearby fishing village, Bethsaida, was home to James and John. It was nearby, but farther than 20 minutes on foot. When I use my imagination and when I read other gospel accounts of Jesus calling the disciples, I can imagine that all this was over a period of time. He maybe already knew these guys by the time he was talking with them in Mark's gospel. They maybe knew who he was and now he said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Mark wrote, "Immediately they left their nets and followed Him." I've always had it in my mind that they literally left everything then and there and never went back to it. Now they were on the road with Jesus. They left their families, left their jobs and that was that...the 20 minute version.

When I think about it, though, I realize there were three years of ministry time and these gospels don't have three years worth of information in them. There is a lot left out. They couldn't write it all. My 20 minute version needs some revising. So, I began to think that when Jesus said, "Follow Me," to these guys it was something else than what I have pictured all these years. Now I picture them being with Jesus when he taught, healed, cast out demons, etc. They took some trips together. They asked him to teach them to pray. He sent out a bunch of his followers at one point (70) and told them to do what he'd shown them. And, they came back afterward almost not believing what had been accomplished through them!

The key thought there is THEY CAME BACK. Jesus' call to follow was a call to learn from him, be with him, be like him and for the most part in their day-to-day lives. The Bible doesn't say but I can imagine that they worked at their jobs most of the time during those three years. We see Peter going back to fishing after the resurrection for sure. They had access to their boats because they used them when crossing the lake for preaching missions. I can imagine that they stayed with their families most of the time during those three years. Their trips to other towns and to Jerusalem didn't take up all the time...that would be the 20-minute version. I can imagine that there were a lot of days when they where in Capernaum and Bethsaida, etc. living their day-to-day lives.

My point in all this is that this makes us not so different from those first followers of Jesus. We have jobs and family and lives that we live. Jesus calls us to be disciples and disciplers too, but we don't think we qualify because we didn't leave our nets and our father in the boat. Or, we don't think we qualify because those guys were super Christians to follow Jesus and we are not super Christians. Some people are called and go a long way from home and leave family, but most of us are called right where we are in our day-to-day lives to follow Jesus.

To follow Jesus is to be a disciple. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a learner of is way, his will. We do this in the context of our every day (work/school/whatever) lives. It might mean a few mountain top experiences and it might mean some persecution and suffering. It might involve some travel to distant places and it might be a trip across the street. It certainly doesn't mean 20-minutes worth of commitment. It is a life of being immersed in Jesus...and, that goes with us wherever we are.

It does a disciple good...

It does a disciple good to be drawn apart from the crowd, the noise, the activity of the day for awhile. Turn off the TV, radio, Ipod, cell phone, palm pilot...whatever distractions we hold dear. Be quiet, be still and know the world will continue while we are quietly "being." When we are "drawn" it means someone else has acted first. In this case, the Holy Spirit has acted in some way to communicate He wants to spend some quality time with us. When we allow ourselves to be "drawn" it means we have acted in loving, joyful response. Then when it is time to go back to the crowd, the noise, the activity of the day...go with the Holy Spirit who never leaves us and never gives up on us...and know that with him, it is always quality time.