Category: Scriptural Application for Everyday Life
Dear God, I LOVE Young People!
Today's Coffee Tour!
I have several passions that all flow from one that is basic – a passion to bring glory to God. Because of that passion, I am supremely passionate about making disciples among the nations of the world. I am passionate about teaching people the Bible. And, I am passionate about youth. Passion is an overworked word today, but I don’t know what other word to use and I am really passionate about this stuff!
Our three services on Sunday morning are totally different one from the other. The only common thread is me and what I preach. I am passionate to preach in all three of them, but guess which is my favorite? That’s right! The third service that oozes over with youthful energy. My whole week moves toward that time.
So, here I am in my beloved Costa Rica, a part of my life since 1974, longer than many of my Costa Rican friends have been alive. Certainly longer than Montse, my hostess this week. When I met her she had a vision burning in her heart to bring the full version of Perspectives to Costa Rica. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. When she asked me to be the first teacher, how could I refuse? This week, I have loved looking at life, looking at God and his mission, looking at so many things through her eyes. I have watched her tip-toe her way through the male-dominated world of preachers, pastors and Christian leaders to believe God to do something when no one else would give her hope, few would even pay attention and others actively discouraged her. Her dream is becoming a reality.
This evening I was invited to speak to the young people at her church. At first I think she wondered if I would really do it. She needs to get to know me just a little bit better! This is what I live for. To talk to a group of young people about God and his mission – there’s nothing I would rather do.
This was not the largest group I have ever faced. I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew I would be fine with whatever God dealt. The praise team led us in some heartfelt worship. It was youthful and it was great. Then, Montse had put together a video of some of her work in various places around the world (she’s a professional photographer) all designed to highlight the challenge before us. She set it to a sound track of an original song by the praise team on a recent CD release that perfectly matched the theme. It was powerful.
Then, I was on. I stepped up to grab the microphone, still not knowing what to expect or even exactly how the message on my heart was going to come out. I had prayed earlier for God’s Spirit to fill me and to put his words in my mouth.
Suddenly, it was just happening. God was there; it was evident. The attention to what I was saying was riveting. The call went forth to consider God’s call. Hands went up, and we went before God in prayer.
There is no way to know what really happens in times like these. The presence of God was palatable.; the sincerity of the youth undeniable. Now, what happens from here is out of my hands. I just know that I love young people. Here are a few reasons why, in no particular order and recognizing that these are general statements and that not all young people have all these qualities or even any of them. But, here’s why I love youth.
- They are usually refreshingly honest and don’t just say what they are expected to say.
- They are not yet cynical about life, God and the church.
- They really believe that God can do just about anything they can trust him to do.
- They don’t listen when older people tell them they can’t do it that way. They trust God to do it anyway.
- They still are broken by the needs in the world around them. They have not gotten used to pain and human suffering and don’t think of those things as business as usual.
Yes. I love youth! Read very carefully the following words from Psalms. This is how I want to spend the rest of my life.
For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. (Psalms 78:5-8)
Cardio exercises for the spiritual hearty
Today’s focus in our Psalm 119 study was “How Can I Ever Be Clean?” This is the beth passage, verses 9-16, each verse beginning with the 2nd Hebrew letter, beth.
I talked about pornography. Yep. I really did. In church. You can hear it or watch in here on the web site. I think the video is usually up on Mondays. I also think they still video the second service, so if you go to one of the others it might be interesting to watch and see what I left out or added to the service you attended. 
Addiction to pornography is at epidemic proportions in our country. What i had to say about it can be applied to most any addition. They are bears to break! But, there is hope and there is help available.
Here is the complete list of spiritual cardio exercises from the second stanza of Psalm 119. You may not have had a chance to write them all down. I’m going to list them and you see if can match them to the corresponding verse in Psalm 119:9-16
- Live the word
- Memorize the word
- Learn the word
- Speak the word
- Prioritize the word
- Contemplate the word
- Remember the word
I repeat the word of caution I gave this morning. This list should not be viewed as “Seven Simple Steps to Victory over Addictive Sin.” These are simply some very effective practices to exercise your spiritual heart in the word of God. As you do, your exercised heart will grow in love for God and his word.
Think of these exercises like the circuit of exercise machines in the gym. I don’t know about you, but I don’t use every one of them, and I’m not a slave to any particular order. Over the years I have learned what machines are available to address particular issues of need in my body and exercise program. Same here.
Will doing these spiritual cardio exercises guarantee you victory over addictive sin? Not necessarily. This is a tough problem. What can you do?
- Recognize that you have a problem and seriously reflect on how it affects the people you love the most (spouse, children, etc.).
- Get help (professional counseling, care ministry at church, mature spouse, trusted friends, etc.).
- Be prepared to step up and responsibly work hard. You don’t gain favor with God by hard work, and you don’t overcome sin by trying harder. But, as you grab hold of God’s grace in a biblical manner, you will be required to give it your best. (Sort of like physical exercise, huh? No pain, no gain).
- Growing in your walk with God and you walk in his truth will strengthen you for the challenges of the road ahead. As you come to understand just how much God and others love you, you will be equipped to respond in kind. In time, you will replace one addiction with another as you become addicted to God’s love and his truth.
Don’t think of the above exercises as a check list. Just look it over, compare each exercise to the corresponding verse in Psalm 110. Think about it. Does this address a need in your life? What would it look like to exercise this area of your spiritual heart?
Here we are a little over two weeks into our journey through the Bible. Many of you have already missed a day or two. Don’t make a big deal of it or knock yourself out trying to catch up. Just pick it up where we are on the schedule and press on. Just make it a priority (see list above) and don’t give up.
Jeff Cox sent me a cute link that addresses some of the perils of reading through the Bible in the year. Funny, but really true.
Cultivating Prayer
Prayer is very often reactionary. It’s what we do when facing a problem or obstacle. Too often, it is our plan of last resort.
Going to the doctor is often reactionary. It’s what we do when we are very sick. I’m trying to learn that it is far better to give more attention to staying well, eating right, taking care of myself and all that other stuff.
We still need to go to the doctor when we are very sick. And, just as obviously, we still need to pray in the face of any crisis, emergency, problem, etc.
But, what can we do to get ahead of the curve, so to speak, when it comes to prayer? How can we learn to pray more normally and naturally simply enjoying being in fellowship with God?
It seems that so often corporate prayer times revolve around the following categories: those who are sick (major and minor); those who have lost a job or have financial problems; and, those who have relationship problems. We SHOULD pray about those matters! But, we should also pray about big picture, strategic, global matters, like when Paul admonished Timothy that prayers should be offered for those in positions of authority (1Timothy2:1-3). An examination of Paul’s prayer requests in the New Testament reveals that most of them boil down to prayer for protection from evil, for open doors in ministry, and for boldness in proclaiming the Gospel message.
I like to call this type of praying Kingdom Praying. As we begin a new year of our prayer ministry this evening, I want to focus on this type of prayer. There will be opportunities to pray for those dealing with sickness, finances and relationships. However, even in those important areas, our prayer should include seeking God’s will as to the big picture of what he wants to do in and through those problems.
Sometimes, not always, people get sick because they don’t take care of themselves. We can pray for healing as long as we want, but maybe we should also pray that we would learn to be more responsible in taking care of our bodies. Even in cases where the sickness has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of responsibility (a horrible cancer, for example), how can God be glorified even in this tragic situation, or how can his kingdom be advanced?
Sometimes we pray for those in financial difficulty or who have lost their jobs (and we should pray), but never take into account that some people (not all) are in financial difficulty because they refuse to grow up in this important area of responsibility, or they have not performed well on the job but have been lazy or simply irresponsible. Our job is not to judge them, but to be honest with each other and help bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6) and point them in the right direction to apply biblical truth to grow in these areas. The same can be said in cases of relationship problems.
James 5:13-20 is an important passage on prayer. As part of the instruction, James holds open the possibility that what we are praying about just might be the result of sin or some fault of our own. Hmmmm.
These are some of the things on my heart as we approach this new year of prayer. We have moved our prayer time back to Tuesday from Wednesday because we felt that it was not as effective as we had hoped by combining it with the several other activities on Wednesday nights. So, tonight at 7:00 we gather in Worship Falls on the second floor of the new wing. We’re going to try to keep mixing things up, keep them interesting, effective and strategic. I’d love to see you there.
In the months ahead, look for a renewed emphasis on our mission prayer teams that revolve around the missionaries or special projects that we support. Many cannot be part of Tuesday prayer, but almost anyone can find a prayer team to fit their schedule. There, also, we want to make actual prayer the major focus. And, we want to make it strategic and global by having each team include in their prayer time focus on the K people, our special church-as-the-missionary project.
Words and the Word
The last day of the year is a time for big picture thinking. At least I think so. It’s a great time to reflect on what really matters. I sometimes get lost in the details. Do you?
A lot of words flow out of our mouths. Lots and lots. We love to make pronouncements of lofty resolutions for the incoming year. Words. Lots of them. What a contrast to a favorite name for God in the Bible – THE Word.
Yesterday I was doing my Bible reading and came to the last chapters of the Book of Revelation. Yeah, I’m came to the end of reading through the Bible in a year. It really is a blessing, and I hope you will join with all of us in 2011 in reading through the entire Bible.
Anyway, here’s what I was thinking as my eyes scanned these words in Revelation 19.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:13)
The Bible begins with the Word of God walking in the Garden of Eden in perfect communion with the humans he created (Genesis 3:8). God desires to fellowship with his creation. Man’s sin interrupted that relationship.
The New Testament story opens with John pointing back to this beginning point.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)
The central thread of all history comes into plain sight as John then announces the focus of the New Testament.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
From that climatic point, history heads toward the arrival of the fullness of Messiah’s kingdom, foreseen in Revelation 19. The King arrives in full sovereign power having cleansed God’s human creatures of sin by the virtue of his blood shed for us. This King is none other than the same as has been from before the beginning – The Word of God.
I’m getting pretty excited about the new year ready to begin.We’ll read through the Bible together (click the link at www.kcbt.org and select how you want the Bible readings delivered each day); we’ll explore the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm119, that leads us into the very heart of God and his word; and we’ll continue to grow as we come to know better the linchpin of history – the Word of God.
There you have it – The Word, past, present and future. That’s all you need to know.
Happy New Year!
Ah! The Beauty of Simple
We’ve all heard it. Less is more. Keep it simple, stupid. Those and other pithy sayings have been tossed around for many years, probably because of the grain of truth they communicate.
Two lunches, yesterday and today, remind me of the beauty of simplicity. The end of the year is a great time to think simple.
Yesterday I met up with an old friend I had not seen for quite a while. We met doing karate training together some 20 years ago. He is an officer with a local metro police department. As we enjoyed the wonderful Venezuelan cooking of a mutual friend (El Portón is the place and it is fabulous!), we reminisced about the many long hours of training we endured together studying under a teacher widely respected in the martial arts community.
My friend was already an accomplished marital artist when he started training with our teacher. We both laughed at the type of training we experienced together – basic fundamentals, over and over, hour after hour. There were not a lot of flashy moves like you would see in a movie, just the fundamentals for hours on end until we were exhausted and several pounds lighter from the sweat we left on the floor.
After relishing in the memories of our common suffering, we both came to the same conclusion. What makes our sensei such an amazing teacher is his ability to keep his focus on the simple, basic fundamentals, not because he teaches us secret moves and techniques.
Another day, another lunch. Today, three of us went to America’s first full-service gourmet hot dog restaurant. That’s right, the exotic, gourmet hot dog fad has hit mid-America. And,we have the distinction of America’s first sit-down, full-service gourmet hot dog joint – Novu Dog on Main Street. They started with only outdoor seating and have now gone inside (former location of Souperman). The menu is creative, extensive and tempting. Not wanting to decide, each of us ordered a different dog split three ways so we could all sample three different offerings. Yummy! We couldn’t believe what can be done with a simple hot dog.
Border Dog, Thai Dog, le Poddle Dog
Chowing done on fabulous tasted wrapped around a hot dog, I thought back to yesterday’s lunch conversation. It is truly amazing what one can do if simple is mastered.
So, looking to the New Year, I’m wondering not only what new things I can add to my life, but what old things I can shed (besides a few pounds) to make it simpler. I’m sure that in the year ahead no one is going to discover some hitherto unknown secret or code in the Bible that will unlock the mysteries of the cosmos. No pill will go on the market that will make all problems and trials go away. But, I’m pretty sure that there are some weights I can toss overboard to make life a bit simpler (Hebrews 12:1).