ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

Have you heard about Bethel’s tent of meeting? Bethel University has a grass-roots movement of prayer happening on campus. The students have set up a tent of meeting in Kreske Courtyard and are committed to praying for 40 days without ceasing. Students sign up, show up, and pray up. There are so many gathered at times that they can’t all fit inside. Along with that, they have resolved to read the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, during these 40 days within that tent of meeting too.  Incredible!

“Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp,” Exodus 33:7.

We’re not going back to old testament times, but the tent of meeting represents the place that we go to specifically seek God. Nothing else. It’s all about prayer, hearing from God, seeking His favor, finding His direction.

What if we had a tent of meeting at Edinbrook? What if we became so passionate about prayer that we couldn’t hold back? What if we recognized out dire need for God’s intervention so much that we were pressed to our knees? Revival would break out. But it can’t be organized or programmed from “the top down.” It must happen because we ALL recognize we need God so desperately.

I’m convinced that to the degree we are prayerless we are also passionless. To the degree that we understand God’s magnificent calling on our lives we will fall to our knees to seek His intervention. We too often fail to pray because we have forgotten why we’re here. And we overlook the fact that God is WAITING to step into our lives in a new way.

A prayerless church is a powerless church.

Lord, grip us with a fresh glimpse of your majesty, a compelling passion for your calling on our lives, and a glaring awareness that we can never honor You without You.

Oh–for a tent of meeting.

I’m heading home from Florida today after a wonderful time away…

• Fantastic fellowship, networking, learning from others, and taking care of some business
• Was reminded again of God’s blessing on our Converge World Wide movement. One person said it this way, “We’re small like Apple, but give birth to big things that affect all the others.”
• Was inspired by the dedication of the New Bill & Vonnett Bright Collaboration Center. As Pastor John Jenkins reminded us, “God wants to do way beyond our way beyond dreams!”

I’m excited about tomorrow when we gather together as the Body. God’s passion for our movement also affects our church. He’s passionate about us being mission-driven, prayerfully empowered, passionately engaged, and relentlessly focused on contributing to the great cause.

All for HIS glory!

We Christians need to practice relentless endurance for our Cause. It’s what we lose the easiest–our steeled determination to live radical crazy faith for Christ. We slip into mediocrity and find ourselves satisfied with mush.

Mark Batterson has said, “Faithfulness has nothing to do with maintaining the status quo or holding the fort. It has everything to do with competing for the Kingdom and storming the gates of Hell. With a squirt gun, if necessary!”

Ann Dillard, in her book, Teaching a Stone to Talk, states,

“On the whole, I do not find Christains, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mising up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.”

“It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”

For us to be the church God intended–and individually members of it–we MUST live out relentless endurance.

Every day.

I just settled into my hotel room in Orlando. I’m here for three days as part of our Converge World Wide leadership team–the Board of Overseers. I must say, it’s a gift from God to be here. It’s not that it’s so bad in Minnesota, but I LOVE 85 and sunny!

And I love what God is doing in me right now. Had some good think-time on the plane (except for the crying baby for 2 and a half hours straight–seriously. The poor mother. It wasn’t a little whimper either…).  I read a little and then felt led to just think creatively about ministry. It’s way too early to share what I felt God leading me toward, but I know that God has a big plan for my life and our church. The thing that keeps coming back to me over and over the last while is simply this:

1. Don’t do church the way you’ve always done church (and I’m not just talking about Sunday worship).
2. Don’t try to make Christians look and act the way we’ve always expected them to look and act. I recently had one young man tell me why he’s hesitant to sell out to God: “Because I don’t want to be like the Christians I see–critical, judgmental, appearing perfect, and making little difference. Do you know how many of my friends they will reach?” My response was, “Look past the Christians you see and look at Christ. The religious people didn’t think much of Him either, but the irreligious sure loved Him!”
3. We need to take many more risks. Put our faith and values on the line. If we believe that we’re supposed to reach our world, let’s not sit back and wait for a giant evangelism success pill to fall out of the sky. Let’s just start doing something! Let’s fail if we need to fail. But let’s at least try!

So–God’s working on me. Big time. And I’m excited because I only have one life to live. I want to give God EVERYTHING I’ve got.

“Those who trust (qavah’) in the Lord will gain new strength!” Isaiah 40:31.

We have most likely heard this verse so many times that it has lost its luster. To put a little friction back into that verse, you need to know that the Hebrew word for “trust” is qavah‘. It most accurately means “twisted together as one.” Let that sink in a little. Trusting God means that we have Him so intertwined into our life that the infinite omnipotent One is completely enmeshed in the fabric of our lives. He cannot be separated from it. Amazing.

We like to compartmentalize our lives. I had someone yesterday tell me that they like me when I’m not a pastor…just me. Interesting. I guess I still have work to do in that area because, quite frankly, I want to be the real me while I’m being a real pastor. They should be the same.

• We tend to be one type of person on Sunday in church, but something a little different on Monday.
• We like to be “good” in our Bible study group, but a little naughty while out on the town.
• We like to give God ten minutes of our morning and then live like we don’t know Him the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day.
• We tend to be sold-out on a mission trip, but get “back to normal” within a few hours of our return.

The key to spiritual strength–the power to live with relentless endurance–is that God becomes completely intertwined into the fabric of our lives. He should always be a vital part, His presence always real, His contribution needed, His beauty recognized, and His support invaluable. He’s never an addition, afterthought, or slice of the pie. He is it!

What color and quality is the fabric of your life? God wants to to strengthen and beautify it so that is blows your mind! So today, qavah’ in the Lord. And live with relentless endurance for His glory!

Yesterday, I shared the contents of a note found found on the cot of a native African following his death. I have had numerous requests for it. Here you go:

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die is cast; I have stepped over the Line; the decision has been made; I am a disciple of his; I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or sit still. My past is forgiven, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, chincy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by grace, walk by faith, learn by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by His power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my guide reliable, and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up. until I have stayed up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of my Lord Jesus. I am a disciple of His. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, I don’t want Him to have any trouble recognizing me…I want my colors to be clear!

I love the ancient story of pre-king David hiding for his life in the cave where King Saul “relieves himself.” Instead of taking his life, which would have seemed reasonable, David bucked all of the feverish advice of his fellow soldiers and only cut a piece off of the king’s robe. David not only honored the King, but the King of Kings!

Consider the results of David’s self-control–and what ours will result in too:

• God gets to accomplish His plan His way when we keep our passions in check.
• God is greatly honored when we allow Him to control us.
• When we walk in intimacy with God, we get to step into God’s best plan for our lives…simply because we don’t mess it up through the lack of self-control.
• Self-control will produce very different actions than the majority of those around us.

Self-control is best developed through:

• Intimacy with God
• Being in pursuit of a great cause (personal vision)
• Creating boundaries to keep us away from opportunities to fall
• Walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5)
• Staying truly connected to the Body of Christ where strength and accountability is found

When self-control is practiced, God ALWAYS wins! When we fail to live strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, we ALWAYS lose.

The choice is really pretty clear. Now–execute your plan….

A few of us went to the Brooklyn Park Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast this morning. Famous Dave spoke and, as always, was high energy. It’s not a put on–the guy is fired up about life because he’s turned on to Christ. One statement really stood out:

“Religion is for those that want to escape hell, spirituality is for those that have been there.”

He was referring to the dynamics of hitting rock bottom in your life. When that happens and you have no-where to go except to God, you find a lot more than religion. You encounter true spirituality–a dynamic living life-changing encounter with God that goes on and on.

The Barna Group just put out some new information on how religion intersects with our culture. Catch this statement:

Researchers found that one in four respondents could not name a single positive contribution made by Christians in recent years to American society. “Overall, there was a more extensive and diverse list of complaints about Christians and their churches than there was of examples of the benefits they have provided to society,” said the Barna Group.

Ouch!

How could this be? After all, Jesus and His disciples made such positive and profound influences on their society. What’s happened?

The answer is, in part, related to Famous Dave’s insightful statement–many of us have a neutered religion rather than a dynamic life-giving world-changing relationship with the living God.

Maybe we haven’t been to hell yet. Maybe we can escape religion before we get there…

Self-control is the topic of the week. The Greek word used for this in the New Testament most accurately means “strength.” We often think about what kind of strength we need to KEEP us from doing wrong things, but it is also the inner strength we need to DO the right things. Obedience is tied directly to self-control, both to refrain from sin and engage in righteousness.

Here’s a BIG SIN in the church today: Consumerism. I’m talking about Christian consumerism. Our materialistic culture has seeped into the orientations of most of us (or all of us) and has been unwittingly transfered into the spiritual dimensions of our lives. It comes out in several ways:

• God is there for us more than we are there for God. In other words, we think that since we’re God’s children, God should take special care of us, give us what we need, make life pleasurable…certainly manageable, and never let us go through excruciating hardships. The biblical heroes, however, saw things very differently. They knew that real life has little to do with the temporal experiences here and now, but actually saw their lives as offerings to God for His great cause. That’s why you never find the early disciples complaining about their wretched political conditions (much much worse than ours today), their ongoing suffering for the cause of Christ, or the tremendous sacrifices they made to be a Christ-follower. They were in it for God’s glory and not at all for what they could get out of it.
• We choose a church for what it will give us rather than how we can partner to impact our world. Even at Edinbrook, we have regretfully been fairly satisfied over the past dozen years to grow through transfers. We have been too easily satisfied. Don’t get me wrong–everyone needs a church that “turns their crank” in which they can buy into the mission and vision. But what we have unintentionally done is collected a church full of consumers…those that chose us because it was giving them what they wanted. But here’s the deal–we now have the very same people who don’t like us getting radical, committed to the Great Commission, or adapting to be culturally relevant. It no longer meets their materialistic wants and desires! So what happens? They go look for another church that will make them happy.

What do we do? I know that God has called us to raise up an army of passionate Christ-followers–most of them will be new converts–who are sold out for the Cause, not coming for what they can get. We need every believer to Morph into a selfless, crazy faith, sold-out disciple of Jesus! When we’re in it for what God will do through us and not for what wants/needs we get met, we’ll start rocking our world. Seriously.

We’re turning a corner. This self-control thing needs to dig some fresh and deep roots into our souls. It’s time to break free of the Christian consumerism that has infected us American believers. It’s time to sell out. This is our day to become biblical rather than cultural.

This is risky, exciting, wild crazy faith. Let’s go! NOW!!!!

There is a lot of talk about politics these days. Especially in the church, we have some very passionate conservatives. We have people that:

• Actually believe that President Obama will bring our nation down.
• Think it’s OK to disrespect our president and others who GOD has placed into leadership.
• Are more passionate about who wins the Governor’s race than whether or not we are being an honorable witness to those of another political stripe.
• Believe that one party is more righteous than another.

Right now a few of you are fuming. That fact that I’m even trying to place this stuff in a spiritual context will get your goose in a gander. But with humility and a passionate conviction, hear me out.

Did you know that one of the top six reasons that unchurched people will NEVER go to church is because Christians are too political? Here’s what this means–we Christ-followers may mean well, but all of our talk about this candidate or that party or their policies means that we will never even have an opportunity to reach about 60% of the population. Those of another conviction would never come because they don’t belong! We raise the value of our politics over our calling to reach the world for Jesus.

Did you know that within our congregation there are people of different political views? And did you know that they are Christian too? Do you know what it does to them when people are raving mad and waxing eloquent about their “holy convictions” on politics rather than honoring those GOD has placed in positions of leadership?

Did you know that maybe God will put people in office to bring our nation down…and that the best thing in God’s big scheme of things is to bring our nation down? The church would come alive if that were the case. Trust me on this. So if God wants to bring us down (and I’m not suggesting that this is His plan), then we need to get behind GOD’S PLAN! After all, the activity that should characterize us more than anything in relation to politics is 1 Timothy 2:1-3:

¹First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

²for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

³This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

Of course, it’s very easy to play with this verse–to dissect it to say what we want it to say. Instead of taking the spirit of the passage, we actually can convince ourselves to pray against our leaders. This was not the intent of Paul when writing to Timothy at all. In essence, Paul was saying, “God has established these Roman rulers who hurt us, persecute us, abuse us and blame us. So let’s pray FOR them–that God’s will is done through them.” By the way, the early church experienced exactly what they were supposed to from it’s government–hardship. It made that early church REALLY strong. We could use some of that….

Is God really so small that our president or anyone else enters office outside of His will? Do we really think that rallying against a certain party will accomplish God’s work better? Most of the time, we’re only wanting our agenda accomplished rather than God’s. Because the truth of the matter is that we don’t know what God’s agenda is.

Here’s what we know:

• Dividing the Body of Christ over personal political convictions is wrong. (“Do everything possible to maintain unity in the Body’)
• Promoting our political agenda cancels out God’s agenda to make disciples.
• Our earnest longing for one politician over another is much like the Israelites who wanted a King. They placed their hope in a person rather than in God. Their misplaced passions ONLY brought them pain. I hope we can learn from their mistakes.

Yes–we need a political revolution. But that revolution needs to happen in our hearts. No where else. We just need to make sure that Jehovah God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords in us. That’s what REALLY MATTERS.