Radically Real

God's blessings

I saw something amazing last night. I was sitting around watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's a pretty nice show about a team of designers and carpenters that travels the country and spends a week redoing the home of a family in one sort of need or another. Last night's show was one the most touching things I have ever seen.

They went to Watts, a neighborhood in LA that's had more than it's share of problems. They were there to help a woman named "Sweet Alice." This woman is what living for Jesus is all about. She feeds 500 homeless people at her home every thanksgiving and numerous others throughout the year. She built a special room on her house where people could come in off the streets and stay and get a new start. She gives toys to thousands of kids every year all from a place of very humble means.

Sweet Alice's house was severely damaged in a flood, which just goes to show the rain falls on the just and the unjust and so Ty and the team came in to fix her house. They ended up so touched by Alice that they fixed up the whole neighborhood.

A couple of things made this special. First of all when the team rolled up in their million dollar bus, she said to them, "You know you're in Watts, right?" When asked what she wanted on her house, she said "I'd like a room with a big window so I can see the kids out on the street and tell them to go home before they get into trouble." I guess some people are still their brother's keeper.

As Alice returned to her newly renovated home the whole neighborhood turned out. The choir from her church was singing to Jesus and Alice walked through her house saying "Oh my God" over and over again. The legalist in me was taken aback for a second but then I thought. God was the only one who could have made this happen, and Alice knew it, "Oh my God" was the only thing she could say in the face of such awesome blessing. At one point Alice broke down in tears and said she never thought someone would come to Watts and do this for her. And that is the point of all of this. Alice is Radically Real. She didn't do all this stuff to be recognized by men and she didn't do it for an earthly reward. She did it out of love and God proved once again that no one not even "Sweet Alice" can outgive Him.

One last thing, there are people all around us in need, if secular TV shows can make this stuff happen (and that's awesome), what do you think that the church could do if we all; got together and sought to bless our neighbors? Thanks Ty, ABC and Sweet Alice for giving us something to shoot for.

Who would Jesus vote for?

On a Christian bulletin board I frequent from time to time, I saw that a young man posed the above question, and it gave me pause.
The tirade that he launched into about our current president gave me even more pause, and when he said he would gladly vote for president Clinton again even though he and I quote, "turned the white house into a Motel 6." I paused all together. There is a much greater issue than politics involved in all of this. Here is my response.

I have one vote and I will cast it. That and praying for the elected leader is the extent of my ability to do anything about this. I have a much larger responsibility, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This must be where our focus is, church.

Make no mistake about it, on that Tuesday in November the one God wants to win will win. Not because of His preference but because of His will. This nation will get the leader it deserves and the church's mission will be the same, to pray for Him and to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

As long as we can get distracted arguing amongst ourselves over things like politics, especially when we are clearly instructed in the Word of God to pray for our leaders, we will not accomplish our primary goal. If you want to live in a better nation, led by better people, making better decisions, how can we do any better than giving them a Christian nation to lead and lift the leaders up daily to the only one who can change their hearts and minds?

I received a beautiful email from a very good friend of mine, that is called "The Room." It was supposedly written by a 17 year old guy who died in a tragic accident not long after. Well I am now to the point that I check everything against snopes.com before I forward anything. Sure enough when I checked it, it was false, but the real tragedy is in why it was false. The story was a beautiful illustration of Jesus washing away our sins. The boy really did present the story and he really did die in the tragic accident. He just didn't write the story. The reporter from snopes.com seemed to take particular joy in pointing out which commandments the kid had broken. The kid thought it was harmless but it ended up taking on a life of its own. We have got to keep it real and live the example because we never know our circumstances.

So who actually wrote this story, it was "I Kissed Dating Goodbye's" Joshua Harris. His response to this story is wonderful and beautiful and telling of our own attitudes oward our own creations, which is why this article will appear on both my blogs today.
Here's what Joshua had to say:

"Did Josh Really Write It?

Within months of writing "The Room" Josh Harris had people questioning whether he was truly the author. "It wasn't long after we'd printed it in New Attitude magazine that I started getting 'The Room' emailed to me with 'Author unknown' printed at the bottom," Josh recalls.

The response to the article was amazing. People shared it in their churches, copied it and gave it to friends. It was forwarded via email to thousands. Brio magazine as well as Choral Ridge Ministries used the article by the "unknown" author before they were alerted that Josh had written it.

"I have to admit that it really tested my heart," Josh says. "Part of me wanted to go on a campaign to let everyone know that I was the true author. I'd finally written something really good and I wasn't being given credit for it." Instead, Josh realized God wanted him swallow his pride let the dream be used however God wanted.

"I felt God was telling me that 'The Room' was about Him and His grace and I was to step aside and not be concerned with having my name on it. The night I had the dream and wrote the article I knew it was something very special. I think I even told people I felt like God had written it and had me type it. But then when I wasn't getting credit I was upset! God was showing that in my heart I wasn't passionate about his name being glorified but having my name glorified. It was an important lesson."

Short blog today for a change...

Quote from an email I received that says it all

"Many of us want to serve God, but only as consultants."

What do you think?

A friend posted (It was Len) a link to a ministry about a service that offers ministry coaching for about three thousand dollars. He was looking for thoughts and comments on it. I should say in advance of this posting that I am not 100% sure what the guy is offering exactly and I don't want to slam his ministry, so this is a very surface response. Here it is...

Not sure what to say here. I suppose he has something to offer and I am hesitant to knock on anyone's ministry after all the times when mine has been knocked. I don't know the guy personally, He may be great and well worth the money,

BUT If I had three grand, which I don't, I would have to place it in a different direction like supporting my own ministries (or just paying the bills, where are these people ministering that have an extra three grand and why can't I get called there, lol) or maybe blessing the guy who has been doing this for me for years for free. He was there to meet with me when people were acting like I had no idea what I was doing. He was there when I was fighting back tears over some really heavy stuff that fell into my ministry.

My great concern with stuff like this is simple. People in ministry need to seek out other people in ministry that they can meet with live, this is not only vital for the individual ministers but for uniting the body of Christ. Pastors and ministers uniting in supportive relationships cannot help but unite the body and help to remedy what we have now, a horror movie scene with severed body parts littering the landscape.

Problems.
I went to a youth ministry banquet over the weekend. The speaker was really encouraging. He quoted 1 Thessalonians (which we'll get to in a minute) and then he quoted an unusual source, Dr. Seuss. I cannot remember the name of the book but it was one of Seuss' more obscure titles. The main character was up to his eyeballs in trouble where he was so he picked up and followed someone else to a place where there was very little trouble. When they finally got there (through a lot of trouble incidentally) they discovered that the gatekeeper was standing outside locked out of this place with very little trouble and invited the main character to with him to a place of even less trouble. The main character started to follow but then turned around to go home to deal with the problems he knew.

Sometimes God puts us where He puts us for a reason. Lately, I have been questioning my effectiveness and whether or not I am doing any good. Then he uses things and circumstances to show us he is still at work, yes even in me.

The book of first Thessalonians is a very encouraging if you know the background especially for a church planter. Paul planted this church and had to leave in a hurry, maybe as short as three and a half weeks. In other words this church was being run by "infant Christians." It should have been a disaster, but it wasn't. Paul says they were an example to the other churches in their region. Why were they so successful? The Holy Spirit made it happen. Incidentally the Thessalonian Christians were not just rookies they were also undergoing extreme persecution.

You know sometimes our circumstances become really frustrating but that same Holy Spirit can work in us, That same Holy Spirit can take your inadequacies and your struggles and make you an example and use you to the glory of God.

Am I saying that it is always wrong to leave where God has planted you? Absolutely not. After all Paul had to leave Thessalonica, but I do believe that we need to be sure we are hearing God calling and not just hearing circumstances that aren't going our way. After all, if Paul hadn't followed God and went where he wanted to go, he'd have never made it to Thessalonica in the first place. Follow God's lead. Sometimes he wants you to go to a new mission field and sometimes he wants you to stay and fight for the souls that are around you.

Inadequacies
Lately I have been really struggling with feelings of inadequacy. I have been driving friends and family crazy with thoughts and questions and struggles. I wish I could say I am over it. I'm not completely, but I feel like I'm on the way. I keep feeling like I'm not adequate to do the ministries that are before me, but today in prayer something hit me that I know and should have been holding on to. Here's what I learned.

My church is not getting as big as I would like it to as fast as I would like it to. God never said it would, I set the figure, kind of like in my worldly days when I thought I would be a millionaire by thirty. My speaking ministry is not as prominent as I would like it to be. It's not about me being prominent, it's about me spreading the word and making Him more "prominent." I'm not the kind of father I'd like to be sometimes. Maybe I need to spend more time with the Father to learn how to be a better father.

Here's the point. Satan is beating me over the head with a bunch of unrealistic expectations that are making me feel defeated and like I should give up. But the "voice of truth it telling me a different story" the voice of truth and the word of God tells me that I am inadequate and so are you, deal with it. With man it is impossible but with Him all things are possible. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The thing is I have to be doing what He wants me to do. I have to be doing His plan. My goal from this time forward is to pray seek Him and realize if my vision is not too big for me, it's not big enough. If I don't feel inadequate, I'm too self important. My job is not to make it happen only He can do that. My job is to be faithful and walk by faith. It's gonna be a tough road but I don't have to walk it alone.

Ask Not...
John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country." Let's have a little fun with that famous quote. Let's take out the word "country" and substitute some other words and see what happens.

Neighbor
Ask not what your neighbor can do for you. ask what you can do for your neighbor. (After all didn't Jesus say "Love your neighbor as yourself"?)

Church
Ask not what your church can do for you. ask what you can do for your church.

And finally, God
Ask not what your God can do for you. ask what you can do for your God.

Ultimately this is what it's all about. Jesus gave us the example of serving others on many occasions. He tells us to be great in His kingdom we must become a servant. When it comes to the church, we are so consumer focused. What can the church do for me? What programs does the church have for me? Maybe the church down the street can do more for me. When did church become about you? I thought church was supposed to be about God. If the church you're in doesn't have a program that is really on your heart, maybe that's why God put YOU there. We've got to stop looking at the church as consumers and start looking at it as producers.

And lastly and most importantly there's God. We never pray until we are in dire straights and then if God doesn't come through the way we think he should, we whine and cry about how He left us down. He doesn't let us down. He disciplines us and trains us and lets us go through some things to strengthen us and straighten us out. When was the last time you asked God, what can I do for you? Why do we always ask God to bless what we're doing and rarely ask Him to let us be a part of what He's doing? Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give God everything, our whole lives, then we are worshipping. Worship is not about you. Stop receiving and start giving and you will learn one of the great truths of life. You can't outgive God.