The Most Important Things

I love soccer (from the English abbreviation “association football”). I love the pace and flow of the game. I love how there are no timeouts. I love the build-up to each and every goal. I, also, love how there is no use of instant replay. In this World Cup there have been tons of bad calls (and great ones too). There have been calls that have “robbed” teams of goals and all sorts of advantages. Even when it effects my favorite teams, I still approve of the “bad calls.” Why? Because it’s just like real life.

In our modern world of technological advances and ability to comfort ourselves indefinitely, we have anesthetized ourselves from pain and “unfairness” as much as possible. We have ruled out winners and losers. We have created cars that almost drive themselves (and one day, no doubt, will). We have even ruled out pain and suffering in the gospel (or have tried very hard to). Yet the bible clearly states that rain will fall on the just and the unjust. It also says that offenses must come, that we will enter heaven through much trial and tribulation. It says that those who endure to the end will be saved. One of the fruits of the spirit is long-suffering, etc. etc.. I am not trying to be a downer, so much as point out that we’re going to have overcome some things in life and there is no instant replay and there are few actual “do-overs” in life.

The same goes with soccer. You are given 90 minutes of fun, flaws and passion. Whoever wins at the end, wins. There is no instant replay. So if a ref makes an “unfair” call or just a really bad one. You could lose. Or you could overcome. It’s up to you and your response to life’s calls. No one will be sent to heaven or hell by anybody else. You have to make the final decision. Everyone was so mad at the ref after the USA-Slovenia match because they would’ve won the game. Well, in reality, if they wouldn’t have let two goals be scored in the first half they would’ve won. Either way, they fought back and tied. Then they advanced and lost again due to conceding early goals. They had the same chances as everybody else.

What about you? What “bad calls” has life dealt you? Did you fight back and overcome them? Or did you give up and call the game over? There are no instant replays in life. Run the race in such a way to WIN the prize, no matter what happens along the way.

With the World Cup just around the corner…I thought I would share some spiritual analogies in regards to the world cup. (Note: for those of you who do not know what the World Cup is, shame. It’s the largest sporting event in the world for the world’s largest sport – football aka soccer aka calcio aka futbol) So, on we go. Oh alright I might as well put it in a list format…

1) The only way to play for your national (Kingdom) team is to play really well for your local (church) team. If you want to be on the global stage of the kingdom of God you have to be a part of the local church first.

2) Playing for your local team is great and it’s a privilege, but playing for the national team is an honor few really have. It’s all about the Kingdom of God! What an honor to be a part of the church and the Kingdom!

3) Ultimately, the best players are the best for a couple of reasons: they have the fundamentals down, they know how to adapt to the other team (“enemy”), they are in shape and they are prepared. Hopefully, you have the fundamentals down (reading your bible daily, praying, tithing, witnessing, discipling, etc). Are you ignorant of satan’s devices? Are you ready to preach in season and out of season? Are you prepared for the 2nd Coming?

4) 11 players on a team plus the coach = 12. #12 is the number of authority/ divine gov’t. 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles; very interesting…

5) It’s not always the most skilled team that wins. It’s the most determined team that wins. How determined are we to the great commission? Is every creature on earth getting the gospel?

6) All the world is enthralled by who the winner is…except America which is generally apathetic towards soccer. The global church is on fire. And the world is in turmoil by Christians who are turning the world upside down…except for America. We just want to know, whether or not, we can bring our coffee into the worship center. And, “where’s the visitor parking because I am a visitor.” Wake up America. This game is not one we can stand to lose! (I am talking about the “game” of church and not soccer)

7) The ball is a sphere, like the Earth. All of mankind is kicking the Earth around. Ok that wasn’t really spiritual but more of a jab at BP for poking a gaping hole in the Earth and letting it bleed oil for months. And for having no real solution to fix it other than, “can we put a cork in it, like they did on the LOST finale?” or “let’s burn it!” Or, “as long as we can keep it corralled with giant, inflatable water weenies, we’re gold!”
Coca-cola is the official soft drink of the World Cup, Emirates the official airline, Sony the official TV or something, Adidas the official ball, Hyundai-Kia the official car sponsor (?!) and Visa the official credit card. There’s nothing spiritual there I was just wondering how Hyundai-Kia got official car sponsor? Why not the Ford Fiesta? That seems more fitting and festive. Just say it, “FEEEE-EEESSSSTTAAH!” Wasn’t that fun? And global.

9) There are no paid cheerleaders in soccer. Either you are on the team or you are supporting the team. Same thing in the Kingdom of God, there are no paid cheerleaders. Get in the game or stay in the crowd.

10) I heart soccer. Go Italy! (Only because the USA will not make it past the quarters, sorry guys!)

FIN.

If you follow me on twitter (if you’re a fan of witty, biblical, awesome observations I highly recommend it) you might have seen my last tweet. It was Ezek. 43:12, which says: “and this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness!” So, the basic law or the most essential foundation/ starting point or that which is common to or required by everyone; according to God is: absolute holiness.

Any time you have a thought, or verse, in the Old Testament and you want to apply it into the New Testament (or more appropriately the New Covenant) you filter it through the cross. (Did Jesus endorse it while on Earth? Also, was it acted out in the New Testament epistles?) In this case, which is absolute holiness, the answer is a resounding: YES! God still desires that His people remain holy. It is still the basic law of the Temple. In the New Testament, the temple is our body. (1 Cor. 6:19) So, God still requires holiness in our natural and spiritual bodies.

In fact, God doesn’t just require holiness. He requires absolute holiness. This absolute holiness is not achieved through rules and regulations. It is achieved through the precious blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross. He, who know no sin, became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is STILL required of us today. In the midst of many other aspects of the word being overemphasized in the body of Christ today, we must remember that God is first and foremost HOLY. It is His primary moral attribute. It is the very name of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He has named His word the Holy Bible. And without holiness no man will see the Lord.

The basic law is holy because God is holy. What things are you doing in your life that is robbing you of holiness? What media is defiling your spirit of being absolutely holy? Change that and be holy today.

Well, we just got back from Brasil last week. What an amazing time that was! We saw hundreds get saved, healed and touched by the power of God. Paige and I (plus interns from 220) left on Sunday and were in the Brasilian state of Paraibo. We were preparing the city for a crusade that was to happen last Friday and Saturday night. Our job during the day was to go house to house and invite people to the crusade. Also, we took the opportunity to pray for people and lead them to Jesus. Many people were hungry to receive prayer!

In the evenings, we went to a number of churches to ignite some fires within them for revival and holiness. Every meeting was dripping with the anointing. A number of people were healed and saved. The altar was full every time we asked for people to come forward. It was a great move of God. The interesting thing about this whole trip, to me, was that in 50 years no new missionary had been to that village!

This led me to think about receiving revelation and rhema from God. Imagine if we had not received any new thing from God for 50 years?! Or, to really go deep, for 400 years (between Malachi and when John the Baptist came on the scene) there was no hearing from God! It’s known as the intertestamental period, it’s also the period when the King James Apocrypha was written. (Which is why those 14 books are not included in the Bible, among many other reasons.) During the time of Samuel, the bible states there was no widespread revelation from God. Revelation/ hearing the voice of God is so important! (It’s also important to make sure what we are hearing is actually FROM God and not other sources. Be advised that much of the “revelation” being spouted today is the result of the natural mind’s thoughts and not from the mind of Christ. If it cannot be easily backed up by scripture feel free to ignore it.)

How often do we take hearing the voice of God for granted? I am not saying that village hadn’t heard from God in 50 yrs. but that there was very little (if any) outside contact to the entire body of Christ. Thank God for His church! Thank God that we have the ability to receive from various ministries and ministers. But thank God most of all that we have the ability to talk directly to Him! Let us make a fresh commitment to not take for granted hearing the voice of God!

Psalm 116:1, 2 “I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!”

I have had these scriptures rumbling about in my spirit for the last month or so. I figured I would share them. They are good ones (as different from “non-good scriptures”

Is. 59:14, 15 – Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and HONESTY has been OUTLAWED. Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

WOW! Sound familiar? Yes. Sounds like the current state of affairs in the world today. In the non-christian world we should always expect this type of “law.” The scary scenario is when this sort of thinking creeps into the Kingdom of God on Earth.

The part that really provoked my spirit is where it says, “honesty has been outlawed.” That’s a dangerous statement. Especially when placed into the context of our ultra-politically correct society. Even more dangerous when you consider that it has creeped into our church language through decades of secular barraging. Ever heard this statement? “We don’t want to hear what you’re against, but what you’re for.” Harmless, right? Makes sense even. But in all honesty. Jesus, God, the Bible, et al talk a lot about what they are against. (And what they are for.)

This kind of honesty is getting very close to being outlawed. In some church circles you can no longer even refer to people as sinners, heathens, gentiles etc. Even though that’s what the bible describes US as. Bible language will never sit well with people living in sin.

Imagine if Paul, in his numerous lists of sins in his epistles, lived today? Would he have watered his list of sins down? I doubt it. Holiness brings authority. Paul simply states what kind of people do not inherit the Kingdom of God. If Paul lived today, he would most assuredly be on the list of “preachers who preach hellfire messages.” Why? Because he spoke honestly.

Now, somewhere out there, someone is thinking how judgmental?! That person is wrong for thinking that way. That person is the same person who wants to outlaw honesty and let truth continue to stumble through our streets getting mugged and beaten by hypocrisy and lies.

Anyone who renounces evil is attacked! A healthy reminder that the world must come up to the standard set by God, through His divine enablement of the HOLY Spirit. Speak the truth in love. And the truth is: we are all sinners. We all need Jesus to save us. And we all need to live holy lives.

p.s. Jamie is awesome.

(*Note this post is intended for humor. Do not get offended.)

I still have this love/hate relationship with twitter. I just can’t seem to break out one way or t’other (t’other = hymnal for “the other”, kind of like o’er = hymnal for “over”). Some days I really enjoy reading nuggets of truth or anecdotal factoids about the people I follow. Then there are those other days. The days that are filled with people begging to be re-tweeted, lists of all the church services they are having and off-doctrine, deep, spiritual sayings (my favorite).

The problem with twitter really isn’t 140 characters. It’s the millions of characters who twitter. I have had to unfollow a number of well-known people due to the fact that what they were saying was just wrong. Either it was just a constant feed of service info (which I could get from their website) or it was really bad “revelation.” I don’t think that every spiritual tweet a person sends out needs to contain something like this: I don’t want to eat my lunch, I want to eat HIS lunch! (That’s not an actual tweet but it’s pretty close to some I have read. Also, I understand english grammar. When you capitalize “His,” in mid-sentence, you are referring to God. There’s no need to make it ALL CAPS.)

I found a great top 10 list that summarizes what I think about twitter: this guy www.leadingsmart.com says it better than I can.

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from his top 10 list:

“Don’t tweet a message to one individual. That’s called email or text message. Tweets should be for the majority of those who follow you.”

Thank you for saying that!

From a biblical standpoint the use of words is extremely important. God created the world, animals and mankind through His words. Jesus used words to stop storms, cast out devils, heal the sick and raise the dead. However, as a christian community I think we have overlooked the use of words and specifically words of praise. Here’s a great example of words of praise, it’s a video from the iPad announcement. It’s 3 minutes long and has been spliced to include all the adjectives Steve Jobs and Co. heaped upon their new product.

Are you done watching the video? Good. Notice how Steve Jobs got his staff, and every presenter in the announcement, to be as equally enraptured as he was? That would make a great church service if all those adjectives were used about God. Imagine if, after our services, people came out heaping praises on God like that. He is phenomenal, amazing, beautiful, super-responsive, extraordinary, unbelievably great, way better than a laptop! If that was our confession, I can assure you that churches would be as full and filled with expectancy as the media was for a technology announcement. (Full disclosure: I would like an iPad. I think it’s a great 3rd device.) How are you using your words today? Are you more expressive and adjective-laden about technology and possessions? Or are you more expressive about God?

My God is awesome, incredible, phenomenal, wonderful, huge, amazing, terrific, etc. And I am more excited about Him than any ol’ piece of technology.

The events of this past week in Haiti have been horrific and unbelievable. The numbers are staggering as to the assumed death toll (100,000 to 500,000) and to the amount effected (3 million people). Just about everyone on Earth is joining in to help out. Roughly $10 million has been texted to Red Cross in support. And hundreds of millions more pledged from countries all over. ($100 million from US alone, not sure I totally agree with that specific number considering we owe China BILLIONS, but there is great need nonetheless.)

In the midst of it all there have been some great misunderstandings. Specifically, this one: Pat Robertson’s now famous quote. However, if you listen to it, you will hear one thing that he didn’t say. He did NOT say, that this earthquake was a judgement from God. He did say that historically, Haiti made a pact with the devil. Which, if they did, would definitely lead to bad things. The problem I have with all of this is, that 1) the news media jumped all over it and misrepresented what he said, and 2) Christians jumped all over it and began to disown the man as if HE made a pact with the devil.

As far as the news media is concerned, who cares. When have they ever reported anything without bias? And, as long as Jesus hasn’t returned they never will. It’s an uncontrollable situation, so I am over it. As far as Christians disowning Pat Robertson… that annoys me to no end. I wonder how many people watched the video, before re-tweeting what somebody who watched CNN or The Daily Show said, and took what they said as the truth. I read numerous tweets from people I respect and admire who either directly or indirectly JUDGED Pat Robertson for “judging” Haiti. (I remember Paul saying something about that in Romans 2.)

What bothers me about this situation is that many Christians were trying to distance themselves from Pat Robertson and trying to look presentable to the world. Even the democratic party, in the midst of racial slurs within their party, did not do so much washing of their hands! (Here for more info) My question is when will we bother to get down to the truth and either choose to make no comment or make an educated comment. Regardless of whether Haiti made a pact or not is beside the fact. The real issue is whether or not we have made a pact to be a family, a church and a Kingdom. If this is how we treat family… well you get the point.

I think this whole situation can be summed up best by this quote: “They (Haiti) need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.” Pat Robertson. By the way, Operation Blessing, Pat Robertson’s “social justice” arm, has been in Haiti for the last year. More info about that here.

Bottom line, we all need more of Jesus!

I have been wrestling with modern ideas of the church as of late. Questions have been circling in my spirit about all the things taking place on a national level, or more specifically, a western church level. While I can see and recognize a great deal of good coming about. There are also many things that just aren’t sitting right. I won’t tackle all of them in this particular blog, but I do want to convey a revelation on the church.

For me, one of the biggest questions hitting me week in and week out is this: who is church for? This seems like a dumb question on the surface. But this will be one of the premier definitions of our era. Is church for the unsaved? (or whatever your term for them is) Or is church for the believer? This is the question that gets me. Let me first define what I mean by church, I should say I am specifically talking about “Sunday Morning”. Is Sunday morning for the unsaved, the saved, or both? The reason this is such a big question to me is that shapes the way we craft messages, view the work of the Holy Spirit, relate to others etc. It opens up a huge can of worms. It will define what we call church to an entire generation.

For example, if Sunday is for the unsaved, why do I the believer go? Do I go to tithe? I can do that online any day of the week. Do I go for fellowship? I can go to one of the numerous groups that meet throughout the week. Do I go to hear the preaching of the word? I can go online to watch a streaming service live; even better I can watch some of the nation’s best preachers. So, if Sunday is exclusively for the unbeliever why should a believer go? Especially when I can get all of my “fellowship” via these other sources? There are countless churches taking this approach to Sunday. Sunday becomes a drawing tool and the main source of outreach.

Well, maybe Sunday is for the believer. Paul tells us that the 5-fold ministers are for the equipping of the saints. So, Sunday is the day for equipping believers to reach people all week long. Besides, will unbelievers really understand worship? (Ezek. 44 talks about not allowing “foreigners” into the temple to worship because they have not surrendered to the Lord) Will an unbeliever fully understand tithing or offering? They also may not be prepared to hear the word of the Lord. This all makes sense to me. Sunday is for believers it allows us to minister freely by the power of the Spirit and not be constrained by time, because we’re here to worship and connect with God. There are countless churches who minister this way and, simply out of principle, throw in a salvation altar call at the end of the sermon just to cover all the bases.

The question then arises, where do people get saved? (If not Sunday morning) Or where do I bring my friends to meet Jesus? Or the question can also be raised, why does there have to be a distinction? Can’t we have both and all of us get along? No. Anytime there are multiple visions for anything it creates division. Anytime there is division or “double-mindedness” it creates instability, confusion and a lack of God’s blessing. (Read James 1) So, there must be an answer.

My conclusion, “church” (or the Sunday service) was originally intended for the believer. It was meant to equip, impart and prepare the NT believers to reach out during the rest of the week. When you couple this with daily ministering to the unsaved through home groups and public preaching by the apostolic team; it made for a dynamic explosion of growth. I think this model is fairly well outlined in the book of Acts and in the Pauline Epistles. Salvation and discipleship should take place in smaller more definitive settings. Settings, where true relationships are formed. If someone gets saved in a home group they are more likely to stick around and grow vs. someone who said a prayer at an altar. Why? Relationship. They are in a setting that is all about relationship. They are with people they trust and who will keep them accountable to their new decision. This is why babies aren’t handed off by anonymous storks, but are born into families. The mother and father are to take responsibility to raise and nurture the child to full maturity.

So, what do you think?

On every website, on every cell phone, on every computer and just about everything we encounter nowadays there is a subtle hidden feature. It’s the “my preferences” feature. On your laptop you can adjust everything from icons to screen saver to background image. The same goes for your cell phones as well. The same also applies to your favorite homepage on the internet. What’s wrong with that, you ask? Well, nothing really. Except that it does cause a reinforcement of one thing: self-centeredness. It’s subtle. You are always being asked, how do YOU want it? Whether “IT” is a cheeseburger or a computer or a ringtone. What is your preference?

The more things we prefer, the more we have to have it our way. The more things we have our way, the more self centered life becomes. Self-centeredness is the essence of sin. Jesus was constantly emptying Himself of His privileges (Phil. 2). Jesus gave up many rights that we, in our modern times, have no (or very little) concept of. For example, here are some rights Jesus gave up.

He gave up the right to:

eat (Mt. 4:1,2; 6:25),
sleep (Luke 6:12, 22:40-46; Mt. 14:13)
have privacy (Mark 8:2, Jn. 19:23)
have a home (Mt. 8:20, Jn. 14:1-8)
have an honorable reputation (according to the world) (Phil. 2:7, Gal. 3:13, Is. 53:3)
live (Phil. 2:8, Mt. 27:50, Is. 53:7,8)

Those are all “god-given” rights we have as Americans. Yet, in direct contrast, Jesus gave up ALL of those rights so that he could rescue our souls from eternal damnation. I think as Christians we need to start laying down our sense of entitlement. NOBODY OWES YOU ANYTHING. We all know what we really deserve, save for divine Grace. The next time you are demanding a “right”, think twice. It’s really time we stopped looking like the world, who demands entitlement, and it is time we began to trust in God to take care of our needs.

“After all these things, the gentiles seek. But you. You seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things will be added to you.” (paraphrase of Matt. 6;32,33) My preferences are your preferences, Lord. Let your preferences come on earth as they are in heaven. AKA nevertheless, not my will (or preference) but your will be done.