Making Mud Pies

…The gracious hand of his God was on him, because Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the LORD, obey [it], and teach [it] statutes and ordinances in Israel. Ezra 7:9b-10 (HCSB)

A simple post this morning, one that has been on my heart the past week or so. Or better put, been convicted of. Ezra led the people of Israel in a great revival after their exile in Babylon. But this didn’t happen overnight. We see in this verse that he prepared his heart for the things of God. Paul echoes this same sentiment to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (HCSB)

There’s a problem in our churches today when followers of Christ spend more time on facebook than they do in the Word of God. Father, forgive me, for being satisfied for making mud pies in the slum and not understanding what a holiday at the beach means. I am too easily pleased. (paraphrased from a C.S. Lewis quote)

John-David Meissner

Final Part: God is big enough to… copy

No, not ask us to copy him. No we seem to treat God as big because he inspires us to copy others. Copy the newest church trend. Copy what the culture says is the hot way of doing things. No, it seems God is just big enough to find out and duplicate what works for First Church of wherever.

So, if a church seems to be doing well with a satellite campus, every church has to have a satellite campus. If video preaching is all the rage, every really with it church has to have video preaching.

Where is the movement of God in that? How do we need His power if we are satisfied with simply looking for the newest trend? Then when our church sees any kind of growth in attendance we automatically attribute it to the new trend we have copied?

This has been going on for some time. I believe it dates back to the time when people in the church started holding up individuals as experts on growth when they seemed to have any success. People began to write books and copy whatever was being done.

How many churches have followed this one as it went from one popular idea to the next? How will we see God’s power work among us if we are spending all of our time not looking for God but simply following trends?

I find it interesting that Jesus heals in many different ways. Jesus both touches and simple speaks to lepers who are healed. At times people found healing by touching him while at others it was Jesus reaching out to them. God’s power is evidenced by doing something the same way each time. Jesus ministry should teach us that.

In the end there is an interesting passage about God’s power that we find recorded in the Gospels. It is Jesus experience when he returns to Nazareth. I must credit a good friend Shane Coffman for this insight. The Bible tells us that Jesus could do no mighty works there.

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:1-6

Why? Because they didn’t expect them from Jesus. This son of a carpenter. Nothing special. He surely couldn’t do anything. We seem to forget that God’s power won’t simply be here because we say we want it. No, we have to live and believe it is true. I’m just not sure that the current state of Christianity in America says we believe. I’m not sure our actions testify that we think it is true. To busy looking for gimmicks, celebrating small things more worried about our personal comfort than God moving in powerful ways.

Heaven help us believe. I pray that we repent and really allow God’s power to invade our space. Let’s face it, we need it more than ever.

Some Trust In Chariots…

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: ‘What is this trust that you trust? I say that your plans and military preparedness are mere words. Now who ware you trusting in that you have rebelled against me?’” Isaiah 36:4-5 (HCSB)

I place my confidence in a lot of things: my wife, my employer, my DSL connection. How often do I truly place my confidence in the LORD? Or better put, how often do I place myself in situations where my confidence in the LORD is put to the test? Like I posted the other day, I’m currently reading the book “Crazy Love,” by Francis Chan. In chapter four, he depicts a profile of the lukewarm. Here’s one of the depictions:

Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens – they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them – they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live – they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis – their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.

The last sentence rocked me to the core. If I stopped believing in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would my life look different than what it is today? Would yours?

John-David

Approaching The Throne

“Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 (HCSB)

Inspired by Francis Chan after reading the first chapter in his book, “Crazy Love,” I’ve been reflecting the past few days on my own response when I enter God’s presence. What do I do? Talk too much? Spend time in silent meditation? Am I consumed with my cares so much that I loose sight of who He is? That, so eloquently written by Chan, He is the star in this movie and I am a mere extra.

Or have I become what Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 29:13, “Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service – yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship [consists of] man-made rules learned [by rote]“? Am I on auto-pilot? It’s easy to do, especially since I was raised in church from birth. Even in the charismatic world, everyone knew if the Holy Spirit was going to move (i.e. someone speaking in tongues) it almost always happened at the same time during the service.

And then these words from Charles Spurgeon really hit close to home, “It is not because you enter a church and sit in a pew that you are before God. To seek the shrines that have been most eminently regarded by the church, to stand by the site of that little skull-like hill called Calvary and pray there, to go to Olivet and bow your knee in Gethsemane, does not necessarily bring you before God. The nearer we are to the church, sometimes, the farther we are from God. We can be in the very center of the prayer meeting and not be “before God” at all. Praying before God is a more spiritual business than is performed by merely turning to the east or to the west or bowing the knee or entering within the walls hallowed for ages.”

So I end, not with an answer, but with more questions.
John-David Meissner

Michael Jackson

Okay, he died. It is sad but what does it tell you about our culture when every front page and every news outlet and everyone can only seem to talk about Michael Jackson.

He was an entertainer. He sang some great songs but if you ask some 12 to 14 year old boys they might have a different take on his value.

Is it any surprise that our culture is in free fall?

He sang songs, he moonwalked, no kidding he MOONwalked.

How many people live and die in anonymity selflessly serving others? When they die do we stop the presses? Splash them on the front page?

What a strange day.

ETERNITY

I’m buried in a new book right now titled “Wide Awake” by Erwin Raphael McManus. I came across a passage the other day that challenged my view of eternity.

…I pointed out that the Bible doesn’t say you’re going to get all the answers. In fact, it never says you’re going to know everything about God. It says you’re going to know God. A more likely scenario is you step into eternity, and suddenly all your questions are overwhelmed by new ones. One second in the presence of the Creator of the universe, and you’re going to get a truckload of new questions. Eternity isn’t the place where you get all the answers. Eternity is a place where you get all new questions, a place where you will always be learning. God is infinite. How long does it take to get to know everything about an infinite God? Oh, I’d say, about eternity.
McManus, Erwin Raphael (2008). Wide Awake, pgs. 60-61. Thomas Nelson.

Growing up, I remember hearing preachers proclaim that when we all get to Heaven everything will be made clear; that we will have complete understanding. I assume these men took that from the passage in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (HCSB) where Paul wrote, “For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.” But then I read the passage from McManus, and an overwhelming sense of how immense the God we serve really is came over me. We will never truly “know” everything there is to know about God, even in eternity, because He is infinite. Or will we?

John-David Meissner

Tulsa Workshop

This is where I will be for the next few days. Because of that tomorrow will be very busy. If you are in Tulsa you should come to the fairgrounds for a great event.

Makrothumeo (mak-roth-oo-meh’-o) by John-David

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent. 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

I treasure being a parent. Not only for the natural joys that it cultivates, but because it provides a deeper perspective of my relationship with the LORD. Take for example this verse from 2 Peter. The word patient is the translated Greek word “makrothumeo,” meaning “not to lose heart” or “to be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others.” There are times as parents when we provide numerous opportunities for our children to do the right thing. We know that if they don’t, the type of consequences they will incur: taking priveleges away, timeout, or even a spanking (yes, I do spank my boys). So we remind them again and again of what they should do, bearing their offense until they make the right choice.

Can you grasp the picture? Father does not loose heart when we fall short of His glory. He gives us time to make the right choice, for our own sake, because He knows the type of consequence we will incur if we don’t. So rejoice! If you have a loved one that has not accepted Christ’s sacrifice for his or her sins, there is still time. Let us continue to pray that the LORD tarries His return so as many as can will repent from their ways!

Hands and Feet 2.0

Ideas?

My son came to me last night to ask about a song he was listening to on hs MP3 player. It was a tune by Switchfoot called Loser. The line that caught his attention was “I’ve got a plan to lose it all.” He wanted to know what it meant. He said the song really stuck with him and he needed to know what they were trying to say.

Well I just started reading the book Just Courage by Gary A. Haugen so I read to him from the first chapter.

We then discussed Jesus instruction that to gain your life you must lose it. Well after we talked some more he began to tell me that he wished that someone would do something in his 5th and 6th grade class.

I asked him to tell me what he was waiting for. I told him that if we wait for someone else to do something we may be waiting a long time. If we have the calling and the burden we need to get busy. Well I have been working with him on a logo and I have had him ask around to find ministries with needs.

How about you, do you have any ideas for my son as he works to impact the world?