ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

Chillin with Shane -- an amazing son.

Last night was memorable. I went chillin with my son, Shane. Earlier in the week, my 18-year old son said, “Dad, we need to find some time to chill this week.” We set a plan and just hung out together.

• We took a slow ride in the convertible.
• Walked the streets of downtown Orlando.
• Were entertained by some great people-watching.
• Ate some frozen yogurt in an outdoor courtyard.
• We had awesome conversation.

It was so good to just be together.

On the way home, with the top down in our cheap convertible, I looked over at Shane and said, “I think we have life by the tail.” Of course, this was stated in the context of some really good God-conversations. He’s the one who has put the “tail” in our hands.

I’m reminded of 1st John 3:1, “ See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called  children of God; and such we are.” I was also reminded last night of how much joy a father gets from being with his child–just chillin. There’s nothing else quite like it. I’m convinced God wants to do that with us more often, too.

There’s a story in the Old Testament that is easily overlooked. It’s never told in childhood Sunday School classes nor taught in seminary lecture halls. In fact, I’ve read the Bible through at least dozen times and it never stuck with me until today. But it’s truths are essential–it’s message sobering.

Jeremiah 28 tells the story of Hananiah. This psuedo prophet proclaims a “word from the Lord” that isn’t really from God at all. In front of a large assembly, He states,  “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon. And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the Lord, have spoken!’” (verses 2-4).

Jeremiah, being a true prophet and one who was in touch with the Lord, immediately recognized that this statement was highly suspect. Right in the assembly, Jeremiah stood up and said, “I sure hope you’re right, because if you’re not, you’re in deep doo-doo! (my paraphrase).

The story goes on with Hananiah taking the yoke on Jeremiah’s shoulders (which God had Jeremiah put there to demonstrate the yoke of captivity in their future) and breaking in dramatic fashion, affirming stronger than ever that their captivity would only be two years. Everybody was happy! Here was a nice prophet who preached hope and happiness! Here was a “man of God” who brought news of God’s love and restoration for His people — this in contrast to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who almost always predicted judgement and doom.

But there’s one little problem. The nice words were false words.

That’s why, in that very setting, Jeremiah was the next to boldly proclaim a prophecy: “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, but the people believe your lies. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You must die. Your life will end this very year because you have rebelled against the Lord,’” verses 15-16.

Hananiah died two months later.

This reminds me of a recent story from one of our Converge Worldwide mission fields. One man, who was a leader partnering in the ministry, was pilphering some money and speaking badly of the leaders. In fact, this person and another were leading an undercurrent of discontent intended to run our missionaries off of the field. The things that were going on were blantantly ungodly, but done in the name of Christ. Our missionaries prayed against them asking God to free them from this man–to cast judgement on him so that the good work they were doing would not be hindered. It was only a short time later that this false servant was brutally killed in a violent one-car crash. God is not mocked.

Consider a few nuances from this story and what they might mean for us:

1. It states in the first verse that Hananiah was the son of a prophet. Have you ever felt pressured to be who your father was–to live up to expectations that others place on you? I’m guessing there was a little of this going on. Whatever the details, Hananiah was trying to be the prestigious godly man that his father was. Obviously, however, Hananiah was either not called or was taking short-cuts to being the man God wanted him to be. The word that comes to mind here is INTEGRITY. This means to be the real deal through and through. God looks for these people–for those “whose heart is completely His.” No facade, no short-cuts, no nice sounding, but empty rhetoric. We need to be who God has called us to be and walk in the blessing of the Lord in the specific calling on our lives…whatever that may be.
2. Nice words spoken that are untrue are deeply dishonoring to God. This is true not only of prophets, but of every one of us. Have you ever said, “I’ll pray for you,” and then never did…nor maybe never intended to. But in the moment it seemed like a nice way to express care–and may I say, like Hananiah, to gain favor with others. This may be one of those common sins among Christians. These idle words about prayed slip off the tongue, but they are lies. How easy it is to speak good things but not live what we say. Just last evening, Susan and I promised to pray for someone every day for the next few months as they go through a challenging season in their life. We talked about making sure these would not be idle words, but a vow we would keep every single day. This is walking the talk.
3. Jeremiah was willing and ready to say whatever needed to be said for the glory of God and the good of the people. He was not popular, but He was blessed by God. My wife, Susan, amazes me with her commitment to truth. With tenderness and boldness, she will tell people what they need to hear, not stay silent to be popular. By the way, she has done this to me all through our 29 years of marriage and before that — and it has served me well. This truth-telling is the spirit of Jeremiah. God holds these people in high esteem, even if men and women discard them or avoid them because of their truth-telling.

2 Timothy 4:3 states, “For  the time will come when they will not endure  sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”

So the questions are simply this: Who do you want to be–a Hananiah or a Jeremiah? Who do you want in your life — a Hananiah or a Jeremiah?

I’m at peace though surrounded by pressure. Only God can do that.

“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You,” Isaiah 26:3.

Our personal lives are in chaos with a recent move, trying to close on a home for nearly a third of what it was valued at 5 years ago, being unsettled in our church involvement, and surviving life without long-term friends nearby.

Our ministry world is exciting and demanding. Just in the past week, I was presenting options for missions alignment with our Converge Worldwide Leadership Team, connecting with several missionaries one-on-one, dealing with disgruntled and discouraged missionaries, speaking at a leadership retreat, moderating some future plans for new partnerships…these are some of the items of the past seven days.

This new week is filled with deadlines, expectations, a team to lead, new initiatives to consider, and a family to love (that’s the easy part).

Now–don’t get me wrong. I understand that your life is very similar–you simply have a different list. We live in a broken world, we deal with broken people, we face opposition from an evil opponent. This is not about me. This is ALL about God–that in the midst of life at its craziest, God is sufficient.

Resolve to keep your mind “steadfast” on God — trust in Him — because He is trustworthy.

I’m at peace though surrounded by pressure. Only God can do that.

For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly,” Psalm 75:10.

The above verse is reason enough to pursue godliness.

God makes it clear that the wicked not only miss out on His favor, but they stand in opposition to God. If you are in pursuit of ungodly things, living life your way, even if it looks good to honorable people, God will break your strength.

What is the strength spoken of here?

The Hebrew word used here is “Kehren” — literally horn. It’s the idea that the horn of a beast was it’s protection and greatest weapon. It was a bull’s first line of defense and offense. To lose it’s horns meant it was left totally vulnerable, unprotected from the attacks wild beasts.

For us, our strength could be a number of things — our psychological prowess, our financial security, our reputation, our charisma, our degrees or position — whatever it is that protects us and enables us to “succeed.” God declares that He can (and often will) take ”the strength” away from the wicked. When we live in opposition to God, we face a daunting and unwinnable opponent. We are in danger of being left completely vulnerable and totally weakened.

In contrast, God will increase the “power of the godly.” The same root word is used here for power as is used for strength. God is saying, “I will make you stronger, more secure, better protected, safer than you’ve ever been!” God promises to not only stand with us, but fight for us. Of course, the strength He gives us is also supernatural. For the believer today, there is no greater gift than the Holy Spirit’s filling and empowering. We have a divine strength that nothing on earth can match.

What a great reminder that it never pays to do our own thing. Make godliness (being like God) your pursuit and God will be your greatest ally. Who wouldn’t want that?

“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” Proverbs 24:16

Resilience is the power or ability to return to the original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched. It’s the idea of elasticity.

Resilience is also the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like. It’s the idea of buoyancy.

Elasticity and buoyancy.

The above Proverb is stating an important truth about godly people: The take a licking and keep on ticking. They may get beaten and bruised, but they never stop. God infuses His children with a supernatural resiliency — they have elasticity and buoyancy that those without God do not have.

The apostle Paul demonstrated this powerfully in Acts 14. When a Jewish-incited riot in Lystra left Paul for dead after a mob stoning, his stunned companions stood around the lifeless figure. The great apostle had breathed his last, they thought. Despair was overtaking their souls. They lingered in shock and unbelief at what had just happened. The unthinkable had become reality. The great missionary was gone.

Almost imperceptibly–a movement on the ground. A finger? A twitch? A shallow breath? An arm moves! A leg seeks traction! The circle of friends move quickly, shocked at this unexpected turn of events–again. They lift the bloodied apostle to his feet as he seems to breath in life again. What a day! This great teacher, so critical to the movement of the early church, has escaped death somehow. The crowd begins to cheer! Paul’s followers stand in awe.

Is this resilience?

Not really. Resilience is most demonstrated in what happens next. Paul turns and faces Lystra. With unmatched determination, unrelenting resolve, and divine courage, he walks back into the very city that had just tried to kill him.

That’s resilience.

This is what God gives His children. It’s a divine gift, a supernatural power, a new thread of DNA for the redeemed.

Child of God, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Yes, we are simply human, “but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body,” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word,” Isaiah 66:2.

When God speaks, I want to listen. Carefully. In the above verse, God declares what attracts His attention upon someone. Humility, contriteness, and reverence for God’s Word.

HUMILITY is something that most Christians know about. We all realize it’s critical value in life. But why then do so many fail to have it and live by it?

I need to look no further than myself to get at least half of the answer. We get self-sufficient, full of ourselves and thinking we’re pretty smart. We have a few accomplishments and become enamored with ourselves. Our deeply rooted insecurities – the need for being accepted and valued – press us to prove ourselves, our knowledge, our value to the Kingdom. We think busyness equals significance. We think knowlege equals maturity. We surmise that deep thinking is the equivalent of deep spirituality. We assume that ability and wisdom of themselves make us of great value to the Body. With really big blind spots, we become the center of our universe. Greatly respected Christians can even be found using God for for their own purposes all in the name of Jesus to assuage their need for significance, value, and esteem.

Years ago, while in a room full of prayer circles, I had the opportunity to sit in a circle of prayer with Billy Graham and several members of his family. There were about ten of us in this huddle. I was shocked when, before the prayer time began, Dr. Graham was truly surprised that people wanted him to say a few words. I was close enough to him to see the genuine sense of unworthiness he felt to address this small “inner” crowd of people. This was just one of many times that I saw authentic humility ooze out of this great leader’s character. And as the above Scripture declares, it seems quite evident that God looked on Him.

To be CONTRITE is be remorseful, to feel a powerful sense of unworthiness and to recognize the depth of one’s own depravity.

A person who is contrite is gripped with the conviction that they have no right to live in God’s blessing, to be used of God in great ways, or to be blessed by Him daily. This, of course, does not promote self-pummeling or anything of the sort. Instead, it speaks of a core conviction that produces profound gratitude everyday for the pleasure of God’s grace. Gratitude changes our attitude. Again, this is not a put-on of things. It is not a showy manufactured contriteness that God looks for, but that which has deeply captured the soul and convictions of the believer. God loves people who truly understand that only grace can make a way.

The person who TREMBLES AT GOD’S WORD is ready to do whatever it takes to hear, understand, and apply what God’s Word says.

 This person is shaped and fueled by something that no one apart from Christ will ever experience. This something is the voice of God. It is powerful, tranforming, truth, life-giving, and revolutionary.

God looks for people who have these qualities at work in them. What an exciting opportunity to have God’s gaze set on me. What a tremendous challenge to become deeply and authentically godly to the core. There is no other way…

The degree of your commitment to The Cause will determine the degree that you will practice courage.

Courage is nearly a non-factor in North-American Christianity. We don’t really need it to find ourselves acceptable in the churches most of us attend. It’s fairly easy to “go with the flow” of acceptable church-life, but this isn’t God’s plan for anybody. Intead, it’s critical that we obey Jesus to “go make disciples.”

Many Christians may be asking the question, “Why is courage so important?” It’s a testament to how little we challenge the status quo in our version of sophisticated Christianity.

So let me encourage you to do a couple things related to this:

• Put yourself in places and positions that force you to exercise your courage. You’ll find out how badly you need it to truly follow Jesus.
• Pray for opportunities that require courage. The early disciples prayed constantly to obey what Jesus told them to do–and it required courage virtually every day they lived. (See Acts 4 as a reminder.)

The degree of your commitment to The Cause will determine the degree that you will practice courage.

And Holy Spirit-given courage always greatly honors God.

Let me list a few really good things about today so far…

• I woke up. His mercies are new every morning!
• My Greek yogurt was fabulous.
• God was downloading some really important information to me that could make a huge Kingdom impact in the years ahead. Pretty cool.
• Coffee at Starbucks was delish — and in the Norman Rockwellish city of Celebration, FL no less. It’s too nice to be real…
• I’m hiding out and hearing from God. I’m grateful.
• I’ve heard good/fun/encouraging things from almost person on my 10-member team TODAY. I’m blessed to work with each one.
• I’m feeling really good for getting only four hours of sleep.
• I ate Susan’s leftover homemade Chianti Stew for lunch. Heavenly…
• God’s grace is overwhelming me…again.

“And  God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed,” 2 Corinthians 9:8.

Victims are meant by God to be victors! The Bible actually calls these kinds of people “overcomers.” I John 5:4 states, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”

We are reminded in Scripture of four primary truths about being a victor rather than a victim:

1. An overcomer is rooted in God’s purposes — when His purposes are central in our life and we are driven by this, we overcome whatever assaults us.
2. An overcomer is granted this by God — He’s waiting to give you this victory over the circumstances of life.
3. An overcomer is empowered for this ONLY by the Holy Spirit, who does not make us timid, fearful, or cowardly, but gives us power, love, and self-control in all things.
4. An overcomer is secure in this through Christ’s love who makes us “MORE than conquerors through Christ who loves us!” After paying for us with His life, He will not turn His back on us in our struggles.

Life is brutal. We live in a broken world that can eat us up, chew us up, and spit us out broken and beaten. But God has a much better plan for those who claim Christ.

• He wants us to live above the circumstances rather than under the circumstances.
• He calls us to see His hand in all things of life so that every trial has a greater purpose than mere survival.
• He requires us to live holy lives so that our struggles are not of our own doing.
• He empowers us to persevere, not primarily for our benefit, but for His glory (which ALWAYS benefits us most anyway).

Be a VICTOR today!  For more on this, check out Victim on Vimeo…

‘A leader is someone who gets someone else to do what they don’t want to do…and like it.” This was President Franklin Roosevelt’s description of leadership. It’s pretty good, really.

I have found that leadership is the catalyst to almost everything that God wants to do through His church. Romans 12:8 actually mentions the gift of leadership in the church and urges those who have it “to lead well”.

Jesus, of course, was the greatest leader to ever walk on planet earth. He taught us so much about what a leader is, how we lead, who we lead, why we lead, and the cost of leadership.

I was reminded this morning of the great team of leaders I get to lead. As missionary candidates converged from across the country and around the world, our team began the vital 3-day process of assessing their readiness. What a high calling we have in sending. What a great team we have to get that done. I’ve done almost nothing to see this assessment happen because we have leaders that do their thing so well.

I think leadership is often as simple as having followers. As John Maxwell has said, “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.”

A good leader is only one step ahead of those behind. Not too far ahead, but just ahead enough to show his/her followers where to go.

For those who have the gift of leadership — lead well.