The truth about wolves and Proverbs 18

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Matthew 7

You know...this is a well-quoted verse in Scripture, but misused by many people...Christians and non-Christians alike.

For so many, they believe that this verse is pointing at people who are in their limited estimation "bad" pastors or tele-evangelists or someone like that, but that's a very limited scope of what this verse is about...it speaks to just about anyone who would choose to speak in God's name.

In the Old Testament, it was easy to find the true prophet...if a prophet ran his mouth saying "thus sayeth the Lord" (because we know they didn't speak Hebrew, they spoke King James English - :)  ) and his prophecy didn't come true, the people just stoned him to death  and no more prophet.  Pretty simple.

Well, today, most people don't agree on prophecy as something that just tells the future, but prophecy is one who takes the Word of the Lord and expounds it with application and expediency to the people in a specific situation.  Basically, you take something from the Bible and speak "for" God into someone else's life and tell them what that means for them.  The problem is that without a fortune telling element, how do you know who to stone and are you really even supposed to do that?

That's why God put this together in Matthew 7...he said "by their fruit, you will recognize them."  In other words, they'll be true to the entirety of the character of God as expressed in the whole of Scripture.  Their message won't hold water or they will be exposed when they deliver it by their life not matching with what Scripture says.  For example, when someone brings the "truth", but spouts in in an unloving way or in violation of Scriptures such as Matthew 18...they are a false prophet at that moment.  Don't listen to them.

Or if, for example, out of fear and cowardice they hide in the bushes or scream their message from afar in a cowardly manner, you'll know they are false because Joshua 1:8 tells us that when God speaks through us it isn't through a spirit of fear, but of power and of love.

Or if, they do it in an ugly and disrespectful manner, obviously not trying to bring someone in sin to resolution with God, then they are violating Galatians 6, in which is clearly defines the proper way to approach someone who is caught in a sin...the proper way to view that person, not as an enemy, but a fellow co-laborer in Christ who needs help.  Maybe they violated Ephesians 4 by not being humble or gentle or patient or valuing unity with their fellow believers, feeling that somehow their message has given them leave to violate the rest of the Scripture...Then, well, you see by the fruit that you don't listen to them.

There are loads of examples here, but the truth is when someone delivers a message in an unChristlike manner, then you just heard all you needed to know about that person and what they had to say, because they just denounced their "prophetic message" with the way they lived out the "Gospel" in front of you. 

"But Jim, what if they quote Scripture (or part of one) or say a couple of things that sound good...shouldn't we listen to them then...what if only PART of what they say is wrong?"  That's cool, but there's more to it.

Here's why you don't want to listen to them...

Proverbs 18 puts it a little more bluntly about those who aren't following God in their speaking "for" God.  In the Bible, fools are characterized as those who don't follow Christ, because as Psalms 111:10 (or Proverbs 9:10) says "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom"...but Proverbs 18:2 lays it pretty clear here..."Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions."  One, the person not following Christ isn't interested in the truth, it's just their opinion...their fruit tells you so. 

Proverbs 18:7 takes it further and tells you more..."The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives."  First, their own words and message will cannibalize itself eventually.  Even further, their mouths and lips will be their OWN undoing and it will be a snare to their lives and if you participate in that, you'll be snared by the same things that ensnare them...because as you allow them access and influence over you, their snares, just like their words, will become yours as well.

Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing...they look like they know what they are doing, but pay close attention to them...."so we can STONE THEM, right, Jim?" 

No, we don't stone them.  We see them as people who are caught in sin just like anyone else.  It's not our job to take vengeance on anyone doing wrong (Romans 12:19), we leave that to God.  He's a much more strict, harsh and effective disciplinarian than we could ever be any way.  We are to be God's agents of mercy, grace and love (even love that says the hard truth, but never done without love or we violate Scripture again).  Doesn't mean we sacrifice the "truth" to love people, any more than we commit the sin of sacrificing "love" as our motivation of truth....and people know. 

Sometimes, it's hard to see them as what they are, because usually, to reference Proverbs 18, "fools" who just love to air their own opinions just annoy the daylights out of you...usually it's their self-aggrandizing arrogance that is really hard to love and that's only natural.  While that's natural, it's not God-controlled and we must always attempt to follow Christ, even more closely in the moments where we are in the presence of someone who is sin-controlled.  Not for our sakes, but for theirs and my interaction with them is about helping them, not pumping up myself (Phil 2:3).  It's not to down them or judge them or in some false humility moment insinuate how much better we are than them...not at all, because that's not remotely what Christ wants us to be...if we succumb to that, we become them, not help them.  No, we must pray for them, care for them and use the strength that Christ gives us to endure what they have to say, however misguided, in hopes that some day, we can "restore them gently" to full fellowship with Christ. 

So love the wolves, pray for the wolves, but just don't listen to them or get caught up in their mess.

The Story of "The House That God Provides"

The story:  A wonderful story of God’s faithfulness in Panama rests in the “House that God Provides”.  As you know, we have a young couple from our church that felt called to full-time missions in Panama when we went there earlier this year.  They made an incredible step of faith to quit their jobs, and put their house on the market.  Without knowing where God’s provision for this calling was coming from, they stepped out in faith and began moving where God wanted them to be.  God has provided every step of the way, but one way that God has provided for them, for our church and for the mission of reaching the Chinese in Panama is through the “House that God Provides”.

During this time, a married couple in our church (who have asked for their names to be withheld) was moved by God to make a bold step as well…to buy a house in Panama.  The plan was to buy the house, let the couple (the Ervins) live in it rent free, and then it would be used to house the mission teams that come down to work with the Chinese.  The problem was…how to find a house that’s big enough to do that?  The couple gave the Ervins a number to shoot for and then they began looking for a house.  They looked at many houses, but many were too expensive.  They found one that would be perfect…it was newer than the more expensive ones, it was bigger than many of them and the design of it would lend itself perfectly to housing our teams when they came down…unfortunately, it was over the figure given.

While praying in Melbourne, the couple buying the house felt a calling of God to increase the number and God gave them one.  Mind you, they had no knowledge of the house the Ervins had found at all.  They called the Ervins and gave them the new number and yes, this is a God story, so it was the asking price of the house.  In addition to a place for the Ervins to live, allowing them to put more time into reaching the Hakka Chinese, this makes the cost of the Panama trip more economical for the teams that come by only adding a fraction of the normal housing cost for a Mission Team to stay in Panama (to upkeep the house).  While that is incredible, that’s not all, because this house also opens up a place to house teams from colleges and other churches that would join us in this effort.  Amazing, huh?  I’m not done.

The house itself came with a story.  The owners of the house go to El Dorado Baptist Church, one of our primary partners in ministering to the Chinese in Panama.  The husband had just become a Christian recently in the last year or so.  Upon becoming a Christian, he lost his job.  Nalo had been resistant to accept Christ, but when he did, he went at it for real.  His job required him to be untruthful periodically about certain figures about his company and after becoming a Christian, he would no longer lie about the production, so he lost his job.  Nalo, Marta and their two children remained true to God, even in the face of this seeming disaster. Not being able to find more work, the lack of income was forcing them to lose their house.  Imagine finally accepting Christ and integrity to that decision leading to the loss of your job, and now you couldn’t keep your house …but they remained true to God.  They had been searching for someone to buy the house before they would lose it, but, not just anyone, they had been praying for something special.  They have a heart to reach the Chinese of Panama and they had been praying for a Christian couple with the same heart to buy the house.  They were one month from losing the house completely when God led the Ervins to the house through the Pastor of El Dorado Church’s son, Richey, who is a lawyer in Panama.  They trusted God and He was there.

It doesn’t end there.  Now the Ervins had to find a way to stay in Panama legally.  The previous most-economical way to stay in Panama would have been to apply for a Missionary Visa which would cost the Ervins between $5000 and $10,000.  The Missionary Visa would last for a few years and then they would have to pay it all over again to renew it.  Richey informed them that with the price of the house, if the house was put in the Ervins’ name for a time that they could then apply for a permanent visa under a little used statute in Panamanian…for free.  This provision would also allow them to gain citizenship in just a few years.  It’s all perfectly legal.  That’s God.

So, God provides…but understand this…
…if the Ervins had not been faithful to just go with no concrete support for the future, just a promise from God…
…if the couple in Melbourne had not been faithful to what God said about the crazy notion of buying a house in Panama…
…if Nalo had not been faithful in his integrity to God in the face of unemployment…
…if Nalo and Marta had not been faithful to God to pray and wait for God’s timing…the mission to reach the Chinese in Panama wouldn’t have received this incredible confirmation/blessing/tool, and they wouldn’t have seen God’s provision in their lives in this amazing way.


The lesson: (DON'T miss this)

Faithfulness to God is a chain reaction and if I am unfaithful because I don’t see the resources in my hand, I refuse the hand of God and His provision in my life.  That’s my choice…that’s your choice...that’s our choice as a church as well…it’s the choice of being unfaithful or faithful and we make it every day.  We choose to reject the hand of God when we don’t tithe, when we don’t give our time, when we don’t risk our reputation to share …at each decision big AND small, we refuse the blessings that God has pre-arranged for us and for others and we choose destitution over blessing again and again.

While we were in Panama, the paperwork for the house was processed and the business done.  Part of that
business was the making of a plaque that would be affixed on the outside of the house.  In Chinese, Spanish and English, a sign exists to be a testament to the God that is faithful…it reads “The House that God Provides”.

Nalo, Marta and their two children

Friday recap - Panama

Friday started early...Katye, Caitlin and their translator, Anna, had to be at Sun Yat Sen (a very large and influential Chinese school - not the Christian one we've worked with before) at 8am to meet about having an Music and Arts Camp in January.  They are not a Christian school, but are very connected and influential among Chinese society here in Panama City.  They left about 30 minutes before the rest of us left, and after their appointment, we all were going prayer walking in a Mall and surrounding businesses in the "new" China town in Panama City.

Katye, Caitlin and Anna met us at the church with very good news.  Pastor Ricardo also went with them and they had great success.  They were able to meet with the Head Principal, not just an assistant, and she was very open to the Music & Arts Camp.  The college group from FBC Melbourne that came in July that did the basketball camp had done a good job with their end of things and had left us a great opening and reputation with them.  Pastor Ricardo and the principal hit it off and she actually said that they have "summer school" (December - January is their "summer" time) going on and they would like to incorporate our camp into their existing program in the morning.   That worked out very well and it was a slamdunk to really start the trip.

We met at the church...heard the great report and left to go prayer walking.  Instead of going to the Mall in "new" Chinatown, Pastor Ricardo and Anna, our translator, took us to "Avenue B", the old Chinatown.  Apparently, it is a dangerous place.  We found out that Anna had only been there for the first time a couple of days ago and in 25 years of living in Panama City, Pastor Ricardo had never been.  He said this was "no tourism" and believe you me, there were no other white people around here...definitely no tourists.

We prayer walked each side of the street, split into two groups, Larry and Pastor Ricardo headed the group and Ben Norton and I guarded the rear of the group as we walked.  We had to take off our electronics and most jewelry and leave them in the van (another great praise story, btw...the van or busito, I mean) because the place was known for thieves that would snatch and run to steal things apparently.  We stopped in a shop and Pastor Ricardo struck up a conversation with a shop owner about the location of a Buddhist Temple that was supposed to be near there.  Pastor Ricardo walked off, telling our group to "aqui" (stay here) while the guy he was talking to showed him directions down the street.  As we were standing there, a policeman in bulletproof gear and a few guns came up and starting asking us questions in Spanish.  I was reaching to pull out my copy of my passport, but Katye understood that he was asking us if we wanted to go see the Buddhist temple.  When Pastor Ricardo came back, he talked to the policeman and he said that he would guide us to it.  We called the other group and headed out.

We started going down alleyways and side streets and then came to a door that led up some narrow stairs.  If people would lag, our translators would call out for us to catch up and stay close...Some of us really didn't think things were too scary, but then others of us noticed that another policeman had circled in and was bringing up the rear of our party.  We went upstairs and saw the Buddhist Temple, praying for the people as we went.  it was a beautiful place, but honestly, for me, it really hit me how hard this was going to be...for an ornate place to be built in this tough area and to be kept so well...other religions really had a stronghold on the people here.

The policeman led us down the stairs and out into the street and told us he and the other policeman would take us down another street (Pastor had told them what we were doing and I don't know if they were believers or not, but they were very helpful).  The policeman said that the name of the street meant "Leave if you can" (that's comforting)...it was extremely narrow and was filled with little shops a continuous row of huts with tin roofs in the middle of the street...there was only enough room for one person to walk between the buildings on the street and the shops in the middle of the street.  We continued to pray and the policemen led us out on the other side and back down the streets to the market when were had parked the van a few streets away.  The policeman said never come down there on Sunday, because Sunday is the day there are no police in the area...but we were safe.  We really believe that God has big plans for that area and we are confident that He's already working in Panama.

Right now, it's late, and this blog entry is really long, so I'll stop here and I'll get back to you later on the next set of recaps...there's plenty more...good night.

Thursday recap - Panama

I've been kind of limited in my WiFi down here this time, so I haven't blogged like I meant to, so I'll try to catch up tonight a little and keep it going tomorrow.

Thursday was a LOOOONG day.  We have to be at the church at 5:30am to go to Orlando to fly to Panama...not bad, 1 layover in Miami and out of the country.  It was a smooth trip.

When we got to Panama and cleared customs we met with Chris, Pastor Ricardo and his son Richey and they got us back to PVQ (where we are staying).  We got to hear about the awesome way that God has been working already to piece things together.  The Mission House story is another crazy one...that's huge.  A story for another day.

We went to eat and then right back to PVQ to meet with an IMB missionary, Kavin Cawfin (sp?), who is actually from Enterprise, AL (30 minutes from where I grew up) and knows a lot of my relatives in the Enterprise area very well.  He talked to us about the work in Panama and after a LOOONNG meeting, we finally got to bed...good day, but a long day...and we had to be ready for Friday.

Response to the "Urgent Prayer Need" yesterday

Yesterday, I posted an email sent to one of our LifeGroup members, sent from a missionary couple that they support in Papa New Guinea, asking you to pray for a dire need in their lives.  Here was the response and the result of that situation.  I hope you'll be encouraged.

My God sent his angel to shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, for I have been found innocent in his sight. Dan 6:22 

This is exactly what the Lord did again today! He protected us and saved us from the lions! Literally, the accusations made against us were like a lion’s roar but the roar was worse than bite. We are very safe and all is good, know it’s better! 

This morning after a not so good night sleep I looked outside and saw men walking around our houses to protect us. I couldn’t see all the angels that were fighting for us J Then the plane came in with the leaders and left to go get the police men. We all met together and prayed and reminded each other to respond as Christ would respond. 

The police arrived at the same time as the delegation. So we gave to floor to the religious leaders and they accused us of all kinds of falsehood and that they said we had to leave and gave us a 2 month deadline to get out. The police men then gave us (around 120 people) the floor and they listened to testimony after testimony of how God has changed their lives and that Jesus is the only way to God. I literally cried as a listened to them give God all the glory. The police man had to stop people as hand after hand went up wanting to give testimony! It was AMAZING! 

After these men heard the testimonies one man proposed that we can stay until we finish the translation and all of a sudden the lions turned into kittens. They literally changed their demand and said, “We never said they had to leave.” Can you believe it – listen to the purr! The testimony of God’s working in the lives of these people silenced them! 1 Cor 4:20 says that the kingdom of God is living by God’s power and God’s Kingdom is here! 

So they even apologized to us and we shook hands and left. Our houses are still standing and we are safe, but more importantly our faith is stronger! This served to unify the church here in an awesome way. 

We are exhausted but exhilarated. Our mission leaders said they’ve never seen a heavy like that get settled so peacefully. They too give all the credit to God. 

To God be the Glory! 

Thank you again for fighting with us. We love you all so much. 

Gary for all us Smith’s and the Dinangat Church.

Please continue to pray for Bay West Church as we continue to try to be a church in Palm Bay that shows Christ to all around us.

URGENT Prayer Request for today (Monday, August 8th)

Gary Holland, one of the members of our Osterholm LifeGroup at Bay West, sent this email in asking for prayer for some missionaries that they help support in Papa New Guinea.

"We just got an email from the missionaries that we support in Papua New Guinea.  I will try to make it short but it is urgent.  The denominational leaders of their area are coming in to question them and challenge them in the areas of church practice.  They are treatening to remove them from here if they do not comply with their demands.  That was the email from yesterday.  Now we just got one saying that they were in another village yesterday and their tempers boiled over.  One of the believers from there (Gary's village) was with them and came back with the report that they are going to burn their houses down and force them to leave.

When this villager was telling this there were about 100 listening and said that they would stand around them and not let anyone touch them.  One old man shouted that he now knows the truth and you can not get rid of these missionaries, they are God's work men!

They contacted there leadership and they are flying in with the police early this morning.  This should all take place around 6pm EST.  They are rejoicing with the verse from Acts 5:
Thanks so much,

Gary and Beverly Holland"

As a part of our Radical Experiment commitment for this year, we've been praying for the World and here is a personal request that is tied directly to people at Bay West that we need to pray for today.

Continue to pray for us as we continue to try to be a church in Palm Bay, attempting to honor Jesus at Bay West Church.

GUEST BLOGGER today: Rebekah Lorenzo

Rebekah Lorenzo is one of our students that participated in one area of the Radical Experiment (click here for info on that) this summer by stepping out of her comfort zone and going to West Virginia to show Christ's love to the people up there.  I asked her to blog a little about her experience and here is what she wrote.  Enjoy how God is speaking to and through our students...you might learn something.  I did.

In Luke 9:23, Jesus tells the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” I’ve almost always felt something like guilt or anxiety when I’ve come across this verse, although I’ve never completely understood it. What did Christ mean by “come after” and “take up his cross daily”? I never realized how much of this verse’s message I had just been glossing over before until we started to read the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman on our way to West Virginia. The book was basically about what it means to be follower of Jesus rather than just a fan of Jesus, and Idleman explains that this is what He’s telling us about in Luke 9:23. Idleman also explains that the Greek term that was translated to “come after” really means to pursue, almost as a boy would pursue a girl. So what Jesus is saying is that if we want to pursue a relationship with Him, we need to deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily and follow Him. I also learned that “denying myself” and “taking up my cross daily” means denying my own needs and any other selfish causes so that every day I can “take up” God’s cause, instead.


Another thing addressed in the book that stood out to me that week was that one way people sometimes “cheer” for Jesus as fans would instead of following Him as real disciples should is by putting on masks and hiding behind rituals and boundaries so that others can’t see their weaknesses. I felt really convicted about holding back from my friends in that way, especially the ones who weren’t Christians. My group at the camp spent a few days visiting a birthing center for female prisoners, which was basically a place where women came from prisons all over the country when they were six months pregnant and stayed until their children were old enough to go up for adoption. On the first day there, I met a mother who told us that she had spent a lot of time in prison, and that some of the best and most interesting people she had ever met, she had met there. She said that this was because, when someone is incarcerated, they can’t be identified anymore by money or status or even their old friends. We heard similar ideas when we went to visit a men’s prison, and heard testimonies from some violent offenders who had formed a support group. Prisoners in a way are stripped of their resources so that all that remains is their character and the memory of what they’ve done to get where they are, and so their character is what defines them. I think now that this is what Christ wants from us as followers. He wants us to be totally open and genuine, and not to worry about people holding our faults against us, because really only He can know and judge us, and His forgiveness is all the justification we need. If we just let go of the past and focus on God, we’ll stumble less often and we’ll be able to find peace and satisfaction.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience, Rebekah...nice job.

Generosity and Water skiing

I've really been thinking about generosity and I just have been thinking of the imagery of water skiing...follow me.

If you've ever waterski'ed, you know that in getting up on the skis for the first time, it's a bit of fight and trust.  There's a tension of being pulled, and straining yourself to keep your body straight enough to get pulled up.  I'm not an expert or anything, but you'd see people just get pulled over, or bent over, sunk in the water just taking a lot of water in the face.  That's exactly where a lot of Christians are in being generous, in both tithing and giving to others.  They can't trust that if they keep a little stiff against the philosophies of the world that you will actually "pop" up on top of the water.

Then when you get up, you've got to trust that what you are ski'ing on is right.  I remember getting up the first time, but falling after a few minutes because I thought that the tension and effort I was putting forth wasn't right, so I pulled to the place of no tension without thinking and found myself falling face first, getting yanked out of my skis and cutting my heal.  Some Christians try it, but when it requires some push and strength from them, they feel they are doing it wrong and reach back for the comfort of not trusting God to provide and they fall...hard.  I was lucky enough to get back up and get rolling again...but some Christians never do.

Then there's the bliss when you trust the gliding across the top of the water...you get it, you are doing it and it's AMAZING.  you are flying and you can turn and pick up speed and it's extremely fun.  That's when you have finally trusted God...turned your back on the failed philosophies of the world as far as finances and resources and sharing goes.  You look back at when you were being drug around by the boat taking the water in the face and you think "that's nuts".  Others that are getting dragged around or those afraid to give it a shot, think you are amazing and they wish they could do that...when they CAN...you know that, but they won't believe it.

There are those who never try and let go, never enjoy the bliss of just absolutely gliding across the top of this world, being pulled along by the Father.  They think they have to generate all the motion and they sink in the waves.  The great part of ski'ing is that I don't generate the motion or the energy...not my job, that's the boat...I don't have to decipher the direction...that's the boat driver.  I'm just supposed to hold my ground and trust the boat...same as with Christians.

I really hope that we, as a campus, can grasp these principles of generosity in our lives.  I feel that it is ABSOLUTELY crucial for all of us here.  This is a watershed moment for most of us and it will mean the difference between being stuck in the drudgery of water in the face or the excitement of water under your feet.  Whether anyone of us stays at Bay West for the next 10 years or the next 10 days, that WHEREVER any of us goes, my prayer is that we can just fly and just tear this life up...that's God's plan for us, for you.  Please don't miss it. 

Generosity all over the place.

The famous King Solomon of the Old Testament was widely known because he was the wisest man alive at his time...ever wonder how he got His wisdom?  The story goes in 2 Chronicles that He became King and took a "firm control" over his lands because God was with him and he got his leaders together and went to worship at a temple.  After burning a 1000 burnt offerings to God, that night, God appeared to him and told him to ask for anything...ANY thing...he wanted and he would have it.  He basically asked for the wisdom to lead God's people properly....and this was God's response.

¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—¹² I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

It was said after that time that silver and gold were as common in Jersualem as stone...

Learning about Radical Generosity

-  Generosity begins and ends with God...it is FOR God.  


- Generosity is not about the needs that we meet, and all about the God we serve.  It's not even as much about the lives we touch, as it is about the honor we deflect to God.


- One of the things that's apparent in this series on Radical Generosity is that generosity is utterly imperative for the Christ follower, so much, that if someone is truly following Christ, it is impossible for them to remain not generous.


Christ is the most generous person to ever live.
God is the most generous being that has ever existed.


If those are your examples and you really follow them, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do that without being generous, first to God and then even more to God by giving to others.


-  It's also apparent to me that for the church not to talk about money is almost criminal from a spiritual standpoint.


-  What if we met challenges in our life with the predisposition to GIVE and not the predisposition to hold on to what we have?  In other words, rather than talk myself INTO being generous, then we should talk ourselves OUT of being generous.


- What if we first budgeted what God gets, then what others should get and then we lived on the rest, rather than doing exactly the opposite?


- I've never seen anywhere in Scripture that we have been given the blanket right to dictate the use of what God has asked us to give...not to others and not to God...yet, we still feel the need to dictate that, yet call ourselves generous.  If a purpose is dictated, it is dictated by God.


Before we can be truly generous, we have to understand something.
Generosity is not merely about the relinquishing of possession, but also about the relinquishing of control.

Integrity and Insanity

Here's a little idea that I've been toying with some lately.

I shared a quote that I heard this last week in a sermon by Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, Califiornia.  He had heard it from a missionary couple that they were "commissioning" to the ministry field, and they'd heard it from a guy that spoke at Cornerstone who was on staff (sorry, I can't remember his name.)..but anyway, the quote is this:

"We should live a life that DEMANDS an explanation."

I'd been thinking on these lines for my article, but expressing it in another way.  I think that there are two characteristics that should mark every Christian leader...and every Christ follower for that matter....Integrity and insanity (to the world at least).

First, we all should have the highest integrity to the Word of God and His direction.  That should mark EVERYTHING that we do.  Due to the nature of the Bible, if you read it fresh, looking at the chances that people took...they really believed what they did.  It was life-altering, it was common sense-overriding, and it was baffling to those around them....always to the world, sometimes to other Christians.  When you follow a God who has thrown the truth out in Luke 9 that if we want to save our life, we must lose it, that just doesn't track if you don't have a trust in or a framework of understanding for an Almighty God...just the facts there.

Second, that integrity to following a God who has more info than everyone, who engineers an endless stream of "once in a lifetime's" and knows the exact schedule of when they happen within the course of His plan, will take you to a place where your next move can only look like "insanity" to the world.  If the world looks at what you do all the time and goes, "well, exactly, that's exactly what I would do", then you've got a problem...a big one.

Why?  Because if you possess the integrity to God's Word, that integrity to an uncompromising following of Christ will absolutely lead you to a place of "insanity" to those around you at some point.  The greater the task, the greater the risk, the more pronounced the insanity to those around you.  You won't actually BE insane, but people around you will question your sanity because the thought "that will never work" or "why would you ever do that" will be all over their minds...and rightly so, because without an Almighty God personally directing what you are about to do, it's going to be an EPIC fail.

Check the Word...check the leaders written about in the Word...you'll find the majority of them, minus a framework of a God who runs it all, looked absolutely insane...and they had too much integrity not to look that way.

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we attempt to be a church in Palm Bay sharing Christ with those on the folks in West Palm Bay and beyond.

Bay West Church is a satellite campus of First Baptist Church of Melbourne, a Southern Baptist Church, meeting in the West part of Palm Bay, Florida.