Verses from the talk on "Words"

At Church at the Park today, we talked about the words we use, their importance in our lives and what the Bible has to say about them.

Facts about words
20,000 words a day spoken for the average woman
7,000 words a day spoken for the average man 

When you think about the words you read , the words you hear, words we think, words we hear, and you realize that words are a huge part of our lives.

Words are powerful.

Good ones are valuable.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Proverbs 25:11 ESV

They can start or stop a fight.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1 ESV

They can bring healing or hurt.

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18 ESV

They have the power of death or life.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Proverbs 18:21 ESV

Words tell who you are.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Matthew 15:18 ESV

God cares about what you say.

He commands what words we are to use.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 
Ephesians? ?4?:?29? (ESV)

He has a standard for our words.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians? ?3?:?17? (ESV)

Every word you say should fit under the umbrella of representing Christ and should be a testament to thanking God for who He is in your life.

God created words for us to use to tell about Him.  Your words are what you are to use to share truth of Christ with others.

He holds us accountable for our words.

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
Matthew 12:36 ESV

It's not just the words that you say, but other words as well.

The words you read...
The words you think...
The words you write...
The words you post...
The words you cheer...

The words you give value to that others say...

What kind of words should we say?

THINK - 5 questions to evaluate the next words I am about to say.

True - Will it be the truth? - Psalm 5:6, Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 12:19

Helpful - Will it be helpful? - Phil 2:3-4 
Inspiring - Will it inspire them to be better? - Hebrews 10:24-25

Necessary - Will it be worth being said? - Proverbs 10:19
Kind - Will it be kind?  - Ephesians 4:32

Kind is not just smoothing things over and avoiding conflict...it's saying the truth in a kind manner.

If it doesn't pass all of these questions, then don't say it.
If the message is important enough to be said, then find a way to say it that it fits all of these categories.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14 ESV

Who are you bringing?

This time of year is awesome, especially in Florida! Sports leagues are in swing, March Madness watch parties are coming to a head. We are out and about gearing up for all the spring things. This weekend, we'll gather together to celebrate the Triumph of Christ's resurrection. The reality is that EVERYONE wants to experience winning in their life, but most people are still trying to figure out what that really looks like. Success in life is one of the greatest gifts that Jesus gives us.

Eight out of every ten people will accept an invitation to church on Easter. As you are out watching the Final Four or at a school award ceremony or at a company barbecue, remember that people are searching for what Jesus can give them and extend an invitation to them to come with you this weekend to our service at 11am at The Mission.

We'll be offering free family pics before the service starting at 10:30am and having an Easter Egg hunt for the kids after the service. We'll be sharing what the Triumph of Christ's Resurrection means for us every day...I guarantee you don't want to miss it.

Bay West Church is MOVING...to another church? What?????

Here's a pretty good sample conversation in my life these days.

Person:  What's going on at Bay West Church?
Me:  Well, we're about to start meeting in a new place in August for worship on Sundays.
Person:  That's awesome!  Where is it?

Me:  Up on the West end of Emerson in Palm Bay (100 Emerson Drive, 32907)...you know The Mission Church, there?  That's where we'll be.

Person:  What?  Where is The Mission Church going?

lol.  I figured it might be fun to share the explanation in one place...so here's what I say next.

The Mission Church isn't going anywhere.  They'll be there and so will we, AND so will the Hispanic church that meets in the building as well.  Since the 80s, when the Ostranders built the church, they have always had other churches meeting in their space.  They see this as part of their ministry to Palm Bay to help other churches get off the ground.  "This is God's building, not ours...nothing is off limits to you here...we want you guys to feel as if this is Bay West Church's home while you are here."  That's the type of things we heard in our meetings with Pastor Mark, Pastor Jesse and Pastor John.  They have a real kingdom mindset, because more healthy churches reaching people in Palm Bay is better for all...no church competition here.

Here's a good picture of their attitude...their offer.  We'll move our services from 10:15 to 9am, so you guys can have a service on Sunday mornings in our worship center.  You guys have all these cabinets and stuff...hey, we've got places you can store the stuff...don't spend money on storage, we want you to put as much as you can into ministry.  We'll find places for you to store it here.  If you've been in The Mission, you know it's not gigantic...that's generosity.  You see the real test of someone's kingdom mindedness when it actually puts them out...when they have to sacrifice their capabilities to help God work through you.  We should all take a lesson from them.

So at 8:00am on August 11th, they'll have their Sunday School, then at 9:00am their have their service and finish between 10:15 and 10:30...then we'll start our service at 11am.  And we'll all have church.

Is Bay West Church going to merge with The Mission Church?  
Nope...we are still a campus of FBC Melbourne, still a Southern Baptist Church.  Meeting in the same building with two other churches...  Although, Pastor Mark is trying to talk me into going to Haiti on a mission trip with him...I'll have to hook him up with our local Haiti "missionary" Bob Osterholm (lol).

That's how it works...it may sound different, maybe a little weird, but it's a God thing...just go with it.
 

REMEMBER...Football is in the Fall, right?  Then remember 11 on 11...11am on the 11th of August is when Bay West will be in their new location.

***See how I resisted the normal tangent about how a church isn't a building...it's people.  When you think about it that way...it's a lot easier.

Words to the Wise: Leaving conflict behind

When talking about leaving a tough situation with a friend, this wise friend threw out the metaphor of leaving "firing shots over your shoulder" and how that's how some leave tough situations, trying to inflict pain on others as they leave.  I really latched onto that picture of a cowboy riding away from a fight on a horse in the old West.  At full gallop, the cowboy would look back and fire a couple of shots at the enemy as he left trying to pick off a bad guy or to do as much damage as he could.  After thinking on that picture and had some thoughts about parallels that are flaws in the "shooting over the shoulder" strategy in leaving a tough situation. 

One, shooting over the shoulder isn't very accurate, especially speeding away on a horse, so they never hit what they intended to hit.  They don't really ever damage any of their targets.  When you leave, those shots never make it back to those that hurt you, so they are usually completely oblivious to your gunshots...or one might get through out of nowhere and then everyone around wonders why in the world you'd be so cruel to do that, because those innocent bystanders in close proximity have no knowledge of the situation.

Two, because they have no accuracy, they usually cause damage that they never intended.  The only possible people who get "hit" by things are those people that those fleeing on horseback have a relationship with that have deal with them.  Think about it...you don't hang out with the folks that hurt you, you hang out with the folks that love you.  Whether a new relationship or an old one (pre-dating their hurt), friends are forced to relive the pain with the rider time after time.  It might be a relationship from the place of pain that didn't have a part in the hurt, but constantly feels the need to either apologize or exist in a vat of hard feelings against others because they are have to interact with them.  It could be the rider's spouse or children or just good friends..they take a bullet(s)...either way, you end up really just shooting your own team.

Three, they never really truly leave the situation.  Getting farther and farther away, as they lose perspective on things, the details of what happened gets distorted and out of focus.  Their attention is focused on something they can't control and they waste their time with things they can't/wouldn't/won't fix.  The facts just get worse, like a caught fish just gets bigger each time you tell the "story", and they just stay one step away from the situation and the hurt.

In keeping their focus on what's behind, they are not able to deal adequately with the present.  It's like they ride away believing a rope is tethered to them and to the situation and to them, trapping them to that moment in time.  At any second, they are prepared to teleport themselves back to that moment in time, any time someone will listen to them re-tell the injustice.  They blame those in that place or those from that situation for never letting them leave, but, if they were to step back and examine the two ends of the "rope" carefully...they'd find one end in that situation just laying on the ground and the other end, not tied to them, but just grasped in their clenched fist.

Consequently, because they are ignoring the present, they also are unprepared for the future.  They usually crash into and destroy something in their future because they were unprepared for it, because they spent too much of their life looking back.  They never leave the past behind.

Ultimately, the greatest damage the rider ever does is to himself.  This damage usually becomes something that they blame on the tough situation and people in their past that just "ruined" them.  The truth is that it is their own toxicity that is eating them away from the inside.  It will continue to eat away long after the memory of the past has faded into nothingness, because anything that remotely resembles the pain becomes their new nemesis, drawing their ire and judgment.  Truly, the most dangerous and unhealthy thing of the situation is something that they carried away inside themselves...the inability to be secure in who they are and move on to the future that Christ provides.

Want to know if this is you?
What's the big hurt in your past?  Like the ol' "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop" cartoon...how many comments does it take you to get full on mad about that situation/person?
Do you refer to it often? 
Do people know where you are going very early in the conversation?
Does it drive your decisions now?  Do you find yourself spending a lot of time building defenses to avoid getting in that situation again?  (Nothing wrong with avoiding a bad situation, but are you obsessed with doing so?)
Do you see trails leading to a repeat of that situation often?
And a real situation arises like it...how fast do you get into full strike mode?

Word to those who wish to be wise in their life...don't be this person, that's not Christlike, and living this way accomplishes nothing.  Drop the rope, leave it behind, forgive and set yourself free.

Easter blog series: Takes 1 to know 1, Dishing on Church Folk-We know everything about the Bible..

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

Myth:  We know everything about the Bible.  IN fact, so much, if I talk to church people, I'm just going to feel stupid trying to explore "spiritual things".

Here is a myth I can relate to.  You've got a document, roughly 2000 years old (some parts older, some not so much), that's basically been one of, if not THE most influential document in existence.  It's wisdom is culture-less, time-less, technology-less...it fits in every situation and it continues to last...and something that complex...can ANYONE be an expert on it?  The Bible in my bag is over 1000 pages...that's kind of standard, some are shorter, some are longer, but the truth is, all of them have the same verbiage roughly (different translations might choose "ran" over "sprinted"...6 of one)...it was written by men INSPIRED BY GOD, who no one can completely understand (it's unfathomable), so can anyone ever know everything there is to know?

Here's what's funny...if you are an Atheist, you intimidate church people lots of the time, because they feel like you've studied the Word and are armed with all these questions that are designed to hang them up that only a Seminary professor can answer...so, guess what, we think the same thing about YOU.

Here's the truth:  We are just trying to learn and apply...the stuff we learn is HARD to apply, it may take a moment for some, but years for others to understand...it's not an intelligence thing, it's an experience thing, that's based on experiencing life with God.

Some people outside church feel that people inside church know so much more about spiritual things and their questions might be seen as stupid, because you don't hear Christian people ask the question...so you think..."Oh I must be the only one that doesn't know".  It's been my experience in the church that on some subjects and everyone has them, they just keep their heads down and hope no on calls on them...they feel the same way.  They can't articulate it.

We took the Lord's Supper (or Communion) last week and I had a man pull me aside.  He said he'd been a Christian for almost 8 years and didn't know if he should take it...we talked about it and he found out that he absolutely should.  Because he was brave enough to ask the question (fair enough after 8 years), I got to talk with him about it, he has an informed position about it and he can explain that to someone else.

Why does this happen?  Well, sometimes, we, as leaders, tell this stuff so much, we gloss over basic details.  We might use a term, like "justification"*** (see below), that carries a lot of meaning, assuming that everyone knows what's up with that...they might not, or they might get the concept, but not have it associated with that word, so there's a disconnect.  

Sometimes there's processes in the church that are confusing that we've just learned to navigate by attending over and over, that we've come to accept...but confuses a new person at church because it doesn't make sense.  The Bible makes sense, but a lot of the time, we humans make it sound like it doesn't...that's on us, and it's because we are learning.

When I talk to the people at Bay West on Sundays, I try very hard to make sure that I address any "elephants in the room" in communication.  I try to make sure that everyone understands that questions are "the devvvle" (to quote Bobby Bouche's mom in Waterboy).

Sometimes, church people have this immense pressure when a religious questions arises...  1 Peter 3:15 tells us to this "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you."  It's almost like the room goes into slow motion...all the lights dim and the spotlight goes on you and Regis goes "final answer?" in some "Who wants to be a millionaire" moment, but instead of losing the "million" dollars, you feel like you are about to send someone to Hell with the next words you say.  That verse is not talking about being able to settle every spiritual conundrum that has every come up...it's about being able to quickly point to Jesus Christ for the reason that you have hope and do what you do...that answer is EASY.  Another Bible verse puts it this way (2 Timothy 2:15) "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  That says do your best, not if you are learning and don't know it all, you are dismissed from Heaven...lighten up, God is using your life to teach you and for you to teach others, as sub-plots to the big plot of REVEALING who He is to all of us.

It's that important that we help others out...it's intimidating at times...but taking that pressure on yourself is not productive in the moment.  I try to be informed, but if I don't know, making something up is worse...better to be honest (that's what the Bible tells us to do, see how that works).

If I don't know something, I'll flat tell you most of the time.  If things are working right, I'll try to find someone smarter than me or if it's a matter that there is no clear solution, I'll tell you.  I think as the leader, if it's okay for me to have a question, it makes everyone more open to share their questions about things, so we all can be used by God to teach each other.

I'm not perfect either...no one likes to be wrong and the more you expected to know (like a pastor), the easier it is for you to fall into the trap of saving your rep...If I'm feeling prideful and have an "I-don't-want-to-look-bad" moment, I might try to hem-haw.  I think all people can fall into that...

So, if you come to church as a first timer or someone who hasn't been in a while, don't be afraid to ask questions...the truth is, your fresh take might bring up something that others need answered...it might clear up something that we've communicated by "taking for granted" that everyone understands something back down the line that we didn't explain well.

I'm not an expert...here's what I am.  I'm a guy, as the Campus Pastor and leader, that believes that God specifically called him out to lead.  It's not because God thinks I'm especially smart...it's not because God thinks I'm especially holy...it's not because God thinks I'm the best Christian there is (or in the local vicinity -- let's clear that up, I'm not).  Then why did He call me?  Because through me being obedient and trusting Him to lead people to Him, He will show His glory and accomplish His plan...part of it might even be the world thinking "how in the world did THAT happen with that guy playing a prominent leadership role --- he's a moron."  God's been doing stuff like that for centuries...while He uses the smart and talented, He also calls the ignorant and the seemingly untalented, so ALL kinds are in the church, not just the ones who know everything about the Bible.

Church people are just learning, no different than anyone else...let's do it together and help each other.  That's why church is here.  That's it.  We don't bite and if we do, doesn't that prove that we need Jesus all the more.

What does that mean for non-church people?  Lighten up...your church going friend will not have every verse in the Bible memorized and can make a mistake.  You don't have to know it all to go to church either.

What does that mean for church people?  Lighten up...if you don't know, say you don't know.  God won't disown you if you tell the truth...

***Incidentally, if you were wondering, justification is just the process by which God justifies us being a part of His family forever (Jesus' death for our sin, our acceptance of that belief and following Christ with our lives -- )  It's not just forgiving us, but it's making us "righteous" or "just" or satisfying the Law of God -- kind of like Him paying the fine, we aren't just forgiven of it, God makes it right for us.

Easter blog series: Takes 1 to Know 1, Dishing on Church Folk-Judgmental

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

Truth:  We can be really judgmental.  Why is that?

 Yep, guilty as charged, I've seen this one first hand...I've BEEN this one first hand.  What's funny about this one is that the Bible teaches us not to be judgmental but also to "judge" others in a sense.  Say what?????  Don't feel weird, there's some issues that confuse church people and non-church people alike.

We've all heard it "Judge not, lest you be judged." But what does that mean? 
It seems pretty straightforward, but as one of my Seminary teachers said one time...that's a great verse, but the verses that immediately follow that verse talk about how we are supposed to look at the fruit of someone's life and judge for ourselves where they really stand.  That's confusing  Some of them get the "judge not" and just keep their mouths shut, no matter the situation.  Others really get the verses after that and are real good at exposing others' inconsistencies, going too far and hurting people.  But honestly, either extreme is wrong and it's usually based on a wrong understanding of the word "judge".

The way I understand it, when the Bible says "judge not, lest you be judged", it's talking about making a judgment call on someone for good, in the eternal fashion, such as condemning someone or writing them off.  That's not our role at all...we don't decide someone's fate, declare them worthless or put them on the OUT list.  Romans 14:4 even says that "who are you to judge another man's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls..."  So, that's God's job to put the final stamp on someone's life.  This understanding gives us the measure for hope for anyone on this Earth and helps clarify our role here, which is to show God's love to people on this Earth as much as we can.

So how should be evaluate correctly?

Well, then what about the "fruit" stuff... that is meant for us to know whether we should know or not if someone is helping us to follow God or not.  It's not punitive, it's informative, for many reasons

For example, if I give you some advice or tell you to do something and you go "hey, that's not what the Bible says", either I'm wrong or you're wrong or there's a synthesis of the two things in conflict that we aren't both aware of yet...maybe our disagreement helps one of us or both of us find truth (that's part of the reason that the Bible says "as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another". In case you haven't thought about it, iron doesn't sharpen iron by not conflicting with them.)  Great!
 

Secondly, you may need to share this with me...not so you can scoreboard me or out of motivation to be "over" me or to "put me in my place", but so that I won't be wrong and dishonor Christ.  You don't beat me into submission or stop loving me or if I disagree with you, just write me off...wrong, wrong, wrong... you are to pray for me, love me and be my brother/sister through this time in my life as I learn or you learn or more likely, we both learn. NEVER is this meant to be used to look down on someone as inferior...ever.

The correct way to "judge" (as in evaluate) would be like looking at someone who is sick and saying "Hey man, you look green, are you okay?  Can I help you?"  It's concern...
Or, if someone's life is obviously not focused on honoring God by the way they choose to live their life according to God's Word, it gives me a clue as to how I should weight their advice or opinion.  An extreme example is someone who continues to lose most of their money in the stock market trying to advise me on how I should invest my money...yeeeaaah, right...I'll pass.

Unfortunately, some believers misconstrue that to mean that we need to put down or look down on others.  Some people misuse the things the Word says about evaluation to pump themselves up in their insecurities, such as, they feel that if they can measure themselves against someone else and be better they can feel better about themselves.  Sometimes, people can try to find their worth in seeming to being better than others instead of finding their self-worth in Christ...choosing to focus on others problems so they don't have to contend with their own, either in a move to avoid hard things in their life or an blind thinking they are being "selfless" by suffering in their problems while they help others.  That's not Biblical at all. 







Matthew 7:3 says ""Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"  Galatians 6:2 tells us that we must "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."  So we have to help others with their problems.  If we wait for all our imperfections to be handled before we help a friend, we'll never help anyone.  So what is this verse trying to say?  What this verse is saying is don't use the problems of others to avoid dealing with your own issues...we are to confront issues in our own lives for the health of us and our friends.

Romans 14:3 says "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."  Christians can miss this and get off track, when in truth, we all measure ourselves against only one person...Christ.  None of us measure up to Him.

So, in final, here's the deal...I say this next thing a lot.  In Ephesians 4:15, Paul tells us that we should "speak the truth in love".  Sometimes the loving thing to do is to point out that someone is wrong, but even in speaking the truth, we can never sacrifice doing it in a loving manner.  Here's love for you...1 Corinthians 13 says love is this...check your love when you do this.
   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  (JC:  envy)
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

Beyond the Vow...

This week we are starting a series at FBC Melbourne at our Bay West Campuses and Melbourne Campuses called "Beyond the Vow" and it's a crucial one.

As a pastor, I see a lot of marriages, both inside the church and outside of it, that are experiencing trouble and because we are human, it can get a little disheartening, even if the majority of the marriages around us are in good shape.  Even so, you have to think...why is that?  The disparity of marriages in the church in trouble or ending in divorce, really is not that different statistically from that in the world and why is that?

I believe that part of the reason is that we've legislated and written and analyzed and psycho-analyzed our marriages to death.  We've struggled through the definition of roles of the spouses and what's fair and what's not and what's too constricting and consequently, what's too freeing...and in all that verbiage, we've forgotten what marriages are for.

For the month of March, we'll be going through this series in our worship services, but we'll also be bringing in Dr. Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, who's done a lot of Biblical study on marriages, to help us take an intense look at our marriages on March 23-24 at our 2 to 1 Marriage conference.  Feel free to signup to come if you'd like here 2to1marriage.com .

Also, in the month of March, off the heels of our Hungry for God series, our church will be participating in a corporate fast***, seeking God intently to move in the marriages in our church that are under attack and for vision/direction for our church as a whole moving forward in how we serve God in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area...March is going to be a HUGE month.

In Beyond the Vow, we are going to take a good hard look at the reason anyone gets married in the first place, exactly what marriages are and AREN'T supposed to accomplish and how we can take that knowledge and "re-track" our marriages on a path that will really last "'til death do us part".

Don't miss it.

***Basically Pastor Scott, Senior Pastor at FBC Melbourne, has called our entire church to take some time and let go of something that we do this month, and use that time seeking God's presence in these areas.  Formally, we are asking members and regular attenders of FBC, both campuses, to consider fasting for a period of time in the month of March from food or some other form of physical gratificaion to seek God's presence in these two areas in our church.  For more info on fasting, you can click here for our page on fasting and some resources OR you can listen to our sermons on fasting here from our "Hungry for God" series.

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.

Misunderstood passages in the Bible, a little study never hurts

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..."  Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

For a long time, I jumped on this verse...sounds AWESOME doesn't it and it is.  I heard it preached and used in bible studies and it was presented with something like a building program or a future plan for a church and it just works.  Where there is no vision, the people perish.  It's a great verse to inspire people to a cause...and I'm sure there's an element of that interpretation that is true, but after looking at it and studying the Bible around it, I'm not sure that's what the verse is talking about here.  If we take the verse simply as that, there are some weird shoots that can spring off the plant and give us some trouble down the road.

Funny, but a lot of people who would quote this verse might balk if someone said "I just had a vision".   "Vision" has become a term for an ability to see where things must go, such as what an project, organization or movement could be when it hasn't even started yet and then making it happen.  Is that what the Bible is saying here?  If you can see where things are supposed to go, then you have a vision and if you don't, those involved will perish?  

It makes sense...I've seen lots of aimless people with no plan just wander around and waste their lives away, so there's some wisdom in that area...but you have to come back to this.  Is that what the WORD is saying there?  If you are going to quote something, even if the principle you pull seems wise, the passage you quote needs to say what you are attributing to it...good or bad.  I think of it like "showing your work" in math.  I was GREAT at coming up with the right answer early on in Math...hated showing my work, but sometimes, my "processes" only worked for the problem I was on and if I had not been made to show HOW I was coming up with something, so the teacher could correct my logic, then I would have not solved many other problems.  The point is, life is not about just getting the right answer all the time and neither is studying the Bible.  What is the WORD saying here?

If I say, "Look out!  It's a dog!", that means LOTS of things from "hey, take a picture" to "run for the hills", depends on the context.  Let's look at the context of the verse...a lot of the time, you sharpen the point of a verse when you understand the rest of the "conversation".  I usually choose things before and after.  Here is the same passage in the NIV...

¹⁵  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

 ¹⁶  When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall see their fall.

 ¹⁷  Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

 ¹⁸  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

 ¹⁹  A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.

So we've got "correction" for a child, how the "wicked" thrive in going against God and breaking His law (sin)...how "discipline" is good for your son to give him peace...and then we have "no vision" and "people perish", but the end of the verse doesn't really talk about a plan does it?  It says "he that keepeth the law, happy is he."  Then it's about correcting again...

Let's look at another translation of the Bible...NLT...here is what it says...

¹⁸ Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; 

   but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.

Or the NIV...

¹⁸ Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; 

   but blessed is he who keeps the law.

That sounds a little different, none are contradictory, but together explanatory.  "Revelation" doesn't carry the same weight as "vision" does in our contemporary society, but it still fits, right?  "Cast off restraint"...that's a very different connotation to "perish"...same thing and both fit together, because of the word choice, so what is the deeper meaning here?

Before we go on, you might ask:  Why another translation?  That's because as you translate something, a lot of the time, there's not a "one word" in the other language that carries the EXACT same meaning.  Sometimes a concept in one language is communicated in another language by a series of words...so let's take a look at another one...one of my favorites.  When you look up a Hebrew word or a Greek word (the languages the Bible was written in), you find several words (like our dictionary) to give the full nuance of what is trying to be communicated.  Because of grammar or context or because it's a recognized colloquial phrase or some construction/textual clue, you choose the meaning.  The Amplified Bible (AMP) is a bible that tries to throw all those words in...sometimes, it can be confusing, but most of the time, it helps focus us in on "what the writer is trying to say"...let's read this verse here.

¹⁸Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.

Without the revelation of God to people of who He is, His law that shows the need for mercy and grace and Jesus, people will cast off all restraint...and ultimately, that way will lead to death and they will perish....that's what the writer is trying to say.  It's the validity of following God, not the microcosm of having a grand plan for something.

Now hear me out here...STUDY the bible
1)  Yes, purpose is good for people and an unfocused people DO not fare well in life...but we have a purpose and that purpose is folded into the fact that we are looking emulate and honor Christ in everything we do (1 Peter 2:21-24), we are to make disciples as we go through our lives (never off mission - Matthew 28:19-20)...that's our purpose.  We should not need to supplement that with a building program.  Remember the micro is the brush with which God paints the macro picture.
2)  It's not bad to have a plan.  God gives plans and "visions" all the time...all I'm saying is to use this as the proof-text for any plan you state is wrong, because that's not what it says.  We see life prove out God's plan all the time....God is a planner, he planned all my days before I was born (Psalm 139) and God has had a plan for the world since before He ever created a thing (John 1, 1 Corinthians 2:7 - all over the Word)...good grief, plans are fine.

What I am saying is that when you handle the Word, handle it with care... strive to understand it, when you read it, read it again and again, then in another translation that is GOOD (some aren't), read about the historical context in which the passage was set and above all, do this...read the Bible as a WORK...one Work...it doesn't contradict itself, it expands upon itself, it helps explain itself...sola Scriptura is a Latin term that means "the whole of Scripture" and that is where you see the conversation with God grow...don't miss it.  Show your work...read the context...talk to other believers you trust and most of all, listen to God as you read...have a conversation.

I hope this little Bible Study helped.  Please pray for us as we continue to try to be a church in Palm Bay that shows Jesus to all around us.

The "last" weekend of an era

This weekend, we'll take another step in the changing of an era...we'll say "goodbye" to FBC's Senior Pastor Dr. Larry Bazer and his lovely wife, Gayle, in their role as "first couple" (so to speak, you know what I man) of FBC Melbourne.

For 25 years (he became the pastor here the year I graduated from high school and honestly before a lot of folks who'll read this were even born), Larry has been the leader of FBC Melbourne. He has baptized, counseled, married, buried, effected, launched into vocational ministry, taught, visited and cared for a boatload of people in his time here.

God has blessed and multiplied Larry & Gayle's influence to reach over county lines, church lines, state lines, country lines, denominational lines, philosophical lines and governmental lines in this area. Many of the churches in the area have been either started or guided or directly effected by his desire to teach, mentor and make disciples...which is shown by his reassignment to continue doing that fulltime in the US and the rest of the world by devoting himself fully to training/mentoring pastors from Melbourne to Ecuador to Panama to Romania and beyond.

We should be especially thankful for Larry's determination in following what God has set before him in Palm Bay. After many short-lived works in church planting, the Bay West Campus began in 2009, under his direct influence and work and we will hit 2 years next month....two months of being a church in Palm Bay, Florida. That's two years of continuous steady growth, leaving us poised to continue the growth of God's kingdom in a historically tough place to grow.

I think that as we celebrate the God who Larry follows with a different spin this weekend, we shouldn't ever forget that MANY churches have been started in Palm Bay (many in conjunction with FBC Melbourne during Larry's tenure), that have not made it as long as Bay West has. A lot of these churches struggled, but all of them were collectively part of God's work to get us to where we are now...just as Bay West is another link in the chain of God's work in Palm Bay, along with 63 or so more churches in Palm Bay currently trying to reaching 103,000 people approx.

Bay West is truly blessed and a lot of that has come from Larry's faithfulness in the midst of what the world would mistakenly call "failure". The truth is that we are as ill-qualified to pronounce the judgment of "failure" on something as we are ill-qualified to definitively say that all scientific discovery is over or that we have measured the Universe to the inch. God works and plans far beyond the scope of our analysis....so what does that mean for us personally?

Here is what it means. Do what you know honors God with every decision...no matter how small or how great, then let God judge the failure or success. Live this consistency in belief and in 25 years, maybe you'll look back at your journey and be pleasantly surprised at the trail that God has left in the wake of one God-honoring decision at a time...just like we are doing at the end of this era with Larry & Gayle, as they move on to a new thing in God's journey for them. Thanks, guys.

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.