True Freedom

Today, I attended a political rally in downtown Columbus. For those of you who know me, I have always been and seem to never be able to stip being a political animal! I have ventured in and out of political involvement over the years. The candidate included in his speech an interesting section on true freedom -- AND as my mind does, it got me to applying these ideas to our spiritual walk. Maybe the candidate had been a pastor at some point, I can't say! Anyway, here are his three points with my thoughts applying it spiritually.

To be truly free, you must be able to...

1. Feed yourself -- The Christian who does not feed daily in the Word of God is weak and becomes so dependant on others that they never grow on their own. Though there are amazing speakers and leaders to inspire us out there (like eating out!) we must still gain the majority of our spiritual nourishment from SELF-FEEDING (we've got to eat at home too). Check out http://www.navpress.com/ for excellent tools to help you grow in the Word.

2. Fuel Yourself -- Again, the fuel of the Christian walk comes through the Word, prayer and I believe, the challenge and accountability of strong brothers and sisters. If your "tanks" are low, check to see how much energy you're gaining from priming the prayer pump! It's been said that we can discover the depth of someone's ture faith by looking at their prayer life. Living in true community is a vital part of the Journey we're on. Allow others -- those who are maybe a few steps in front of you -- to keep you challenged and moving forward.

3. Fight for yourself -- as we continue to learn the way of spiritual warfare, realize that though we are side-by-side other "warriors", we must each be good soldiers -- able to fight battles on our own when called upon. "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" we're told in scripture!

Feed yourself -- Fuel yourself -- Fight for yourself!

Spiritual Warfare

I have been scampering trying to catch-up from vacation! I wonder if they're worth it sometimes. Things pile up while you're gone and then it's time to get everything back in order as the tires of the plane hit the ground. We landed last Monday to a snow storm in Columbus -- did I mention that it was 70 when we left Dallas?? The work immediately began to finish up my preparation for a message yesterday on Ephesians 6. This is the passage on The Full Armor of God!

As is usual when preparing a message for me, I sensed a greater than usual sense of the ememy's battle against what God had for the people of New Life. With this one, it was stepped even a little more than usual. In the end, I believe that many people were challenged to really STAND in the battle that we are in as Christians.

This next weekend begins a 3-week study of spiritual warfare at New Life and as a staff we are already seeing the enemy step up his attempts to get us discouraged and distracted -- pray hard for church leadership and our staff as we head into the task ahead. Consider taking some extra time in prayer each day for this. Join the battle with us!

Hopefully, I am now officially back in a place where I can keep up with daily posts. Thanks for all the comments about the blog. They have been very encouraging.

@ The Austin Stone Community Church

Today Terri & I worshipped at The Austin Stone Church in Austin, TX. This is an amazing church that started just 5 years ago, still sets up each week in a local HS AND has 5 Celebrations every Sunday with over 5,000 in attendance! Chris Tomlin (you may have heard of him) is one of the worship leaders. We got to spend a few minutes talking with him, asking him about the new song "God of the City" on the new Passion CD! I'll try to put the story here soon.

The speaker for the weekend was a Pastoral Intern who did a wonderful job digging into I Cor. 2:6-10. At one point he referenced Mark 9:24, and I have been pondering it all day.

In this verse, a father is asking Jesus to heal his son who is possessed by an evil spirit. The man says to Jesus, "if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." (v22). Jesus replys back in a way that I'm sure came across almost sarcastic, "if you can?" I wonder if Jesus was thinking "does this dude remember who I am?"

Jesus says this to him: "Everything is possible for him who believes.", to which the man responds, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief."

We are people who know the truth, we have faith in Christ and an understanding that He alone is the answer to all our needs, yet we get caught up in trying to figure out for ourselves how some issue will be answered, some problem fixed, some situation turned around. It seems as though we can believe for our very salvation, but not for the daily work of God in our lives!

Let's be people who allow God to help our unbelief and see Him do great and mighty things in our lives and in the world around us!

Remember the Alamo

Today Terri and I visited the Alamo with my aunt and uncle. I got to thinking about the famous phrase that came out of that battle -- "Remember the Alamo." Though the battle was lost by a small band of mostly non-soldiers fighting for their freedom over tyranny, this phrase became a call that brought fear to the hearts of those they fought against. Essentially, these brave men were saying "no matter how out-manned we may be, no matter how strong the enemy may be, no matter what the odds are against us, be sure that we will continue to fight back. We will continue to pursue freedom."

When I consider out battle against out enemy, Satan, I am very aware that this must be our attitude. We must keep fighting, day in and day out for our spiritual freedom from the tyranny of sin. He must be the one who lives in fear of our ability to fight and keep fighting against him. We can never give up the "good fight" that is before us.

The group of individuals who lead our church fight this battle everyday along with every member of the body of Christ. These leaders are your standard barrers. They fight at the front of the battle lines for a cause greater than themselves. Satan will REMEMBER us as we fight against him and against the sin in our lives that defeats us! My hope is that we will be leaders worthy of being followed, ready to lead into battle as good soldiers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Living a Life with Sabbath

Today in the conference I am attending -- one about the ministry of the Executive Pastor -- yes, there are Executive Pastors (XPs) all over the US and even around the world (there are XPs here from Zambia, Ireland and India!), the idea of Sabbaticals was discussed. Sabbaticals are exended times of "Sabbath" or rest offered to many pastors. These range in length from 1 month to 1 year in length, depending on how often a pastor takes one.

The point was made that there is really no reason to consider a Sabbatical if, as people, we do not make sure that we are taking a Sabbath day once per week as God instructed. How many of us (and I point first to myself) go a hundered miles per hour day in and day out without stopping for just one day per week to refocus and rejuvinate -- spiritually, emotionally and physically. My gut tells me that most of us do not -- even on the weekend as we worship together -- do not truly Sabbath! Many of us are in and out of the church building and back to ACTIVITY as quickly as possible.

The idea of Sabbath is the ceasing of activity that drains us and causes us to tire in any way. It does not mean just laying around eating bon bons. It means to find ways that allow us to reconnect with our creator and be REcreated in those times alone with our God. This could be study, prayer, travel, time with family, etc. He deisgned us this way. He meant for us to take 1/7th of every week and spend with Him -- that's 24 hours focused on just BEING rather than DOING!

Not an easy thing for me and I know not easy from most of you. I know that our New Life Church staff all struggle and fight for this time that is so desparately needed. Often they get caught in the trap of fixing problems for others while creating problems for themselves.

Let's commit to encouraging -- even ordering one another -- to SABBATH and live as God intended us to live.

The Power of Prayer

I started my day in line at the BMV getting new stickers for my car tags. I always seem to wait until my birthday every year to do that rather than be ahead enough to get my new sticker on before the 1st of February. By 3pm (CST) I was in Dallas, Texas (the Holy land for Cowboys fans like me!). Many miles away in just 3 short hours on a jet. I am hear for a conference for Executive Pastors and then Terri and I are taking a few extra days to visit family on both sides in the Lone Star state.

In a way that only my brain works, I recalled an important lesson on prayer that I learned many years ago. S.D. Gordon in his book, "Quiet Talks on Prayer", states that prayer has the power to impact events on the other side of the world! We can pray in Columbus, Ohio and get results in China or India! Now that is more amazing than going from Ohio to Texas in 3 hours.

Let's impact the planet through our vibrant, intense, believing prayers!

In Christ

Pastor Steve taught this weekend from Ephesians 1 & 2 about our place IN CHRIST. What a wonderful thruth that we are chosen individuals, adopted into the family of God and inhabited by the Holy Spirit!

How you and I live IN CHRIST is the daiily challenge before us. Especially challenging is how we live in the destiny that we have to make Christ famous? I really believe we have to live out Christianity in practical ways around the people we are with each day.

I was talking with a friend who works side-by-side with men who do not have a developing relationship with Christ. How does he reach them? How does he share the Gospel with them? Remember that we must win people to ourselves BEFORE we can win them to Christ. In other words, we must earn the right to share Christ with others.

Yes, we have the greatest news in the world to share, but someone must respect us, must know that we are genuine and caring, must know that we love our family, must know that we love them BEFORE they will really have reason to listen to us share Christ with them.

Let's be those people who make Christ famous because our lives are "for the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:12)

Community

Spent some wonderful time sharing about the idea of community with some of my favorite people. we talked about living in community with one another -- not living IN a community, but living IN community.

Community is an interesting thing -- we would all describe it differently. It meets different needs in each of our lives. We all live in community a little differently from one another. I think that's the heart of community -- we all have different needs -- so we must meet those needs in different ways for diffferent people.

It's too easy to think that I can meet the needs of two fellow travelers in the same way. The person walking beside me might be completely different in their personality, likes, dislikes, background, and temperment. That means I have to meet them on THEIR turf.

You and I have to take the time to find out how that friend of ours best receives ministry, most readily is encouraged, and most deeply feels our care for them.

We are indeed...NOT ALL THE SAME are we?

Starting a Brand New Month

January is over. Looking back on this last month, I am amazed at what I have seen God do in people's lives -- I'm talking real TRANSFORMATION.

If you could sit where I do and walk with people through conviction, confession, repentance and healing you would be constantly excited about the power of God!

Just this past month I have witnessed...

* The confession of a long hidden sin and the awesome extension of the forgiveness of a wife to her husband.

* The sweeping love of our Heavenly Father into the life of a sexually abused boy, now a man who has carried the guilt for years. The tears shed in those moments of prayer cannot convey even one iota of the life-long healing that has begun.

* Brothers in Christ coming together and honestly dealing with disagreements and choosing to grab ahold of the important task of reaching people with the Gospel, rather than fight for their own rights.

* A graduate student freed of the pressure of being perfect and the frustation that comes with never being able to reach that goal. Simply determining to strive after God one day at a time.

* Senior adults stepping into a new ministry to their own generation with excitement and passion.

That's just part of my January -- We serve an awesome, transforming God, don't we?