Timothy...the boy who lived? (1 Timothy chap 1)

Has anyone ever prophesied over you?

My wife Laura had a very interesting experience the first year of our marriage. She went to a christian music conference in Estes Park, CO. While she was there she met a very kind and interesting woman. This woman, let's call her Kate, was apparently from a charismatic tradition. She would tell Laura what she had heard from the Lord on any particular day. One day she told Laura she heard from the Lord and it was about Laura. She proceeded to prophecy over her. She told Laura God had told her Laura's ministry was going to become subservient to mine for a time. She was going to follow me in my career instead of my following hers. This was pretty interesting at the time considering we had moved to Nashville and I was doing home study courses so Laura could chase her music.

Sure enough though about 6 months later we moved back to Andrews University so I could finish my degree in the classroom. Sense then we have followed my career to other places and churches. It seems quite possible Kate did hear from the Lord and told Laura these things to prepare her heart for our move away from Nashville.

In 1 Timothy chap 1 Paul is writing to Timothy a young pastor placed in the church in Ephesus. At the end of the chapter Paul encourages Timothy to remember the prophecy pronounced over him and fight the good fight. The whole letter is describing the actions Timothy needs to carry out in this fight. Doesn't this sound a little bit more like Harry Potter then church? When was the last time you heard or saw anyone prophecy over someone else? Is Timothy...the boy who lived or something? Is it something magical, out of the norm, super natural?

I'm not so sure it is. I went to a youth specialties convention a few or more years ago and heard a speaker encouraging us as youth workers to have a prophetic voice in the lives of our students. Do you remember a teacher or parent who inspired you when you were growing up. There was the time when your 5th grade teacher took you aside and told you...you could write well...your art was impressive...you're a good leader...etc. The speaker was encouraging us to recognize the God given talents and gifts our students have and name them. Call those gifts out. Prophecy of the call God has placed upon their lives with those gifts.

I wonder if this is the kind of prophecy Paul is reminding Timothy of. When you were young Timothy, your grandmother Eunice saw in you the call to share the good news of Jesus. Now is that time, fulfill the prophecy placed upon your life.

We can have prophecy go one of two ways in our lives. There are the good messages which come our way. There are also the negative ones. "You'll never amount to anything...You call that art, the bird could do better...Stop messing around with your stupid music and get a real job." Have you ever heard prophecies like those?

To be a prophet of God is to speak for God. He does show us when things are going in a wrong direction to be sure, he lets us know when we are in sin. But he doesn't let us know in order to push us down into it. He wants us to rise out of it. He has a plan for each of us. The Holy spirit gives each of us gifts according to his wisdom.

If we are to a mouth piece for God then we must call out those gifts in others. We much prophecy over our kids, friends, family, even aquaintances. It's more than just encouragement. The things we say could be the things which shape our lives.

So let's pay attention to the people around us..really notice them. Let's speak specifically into their lives, not general compliments or "you can do anything you want to." Let them know what we really see in them, their potential, their gifts, their calling. Let us prophecy!

It's not a balancing act, it's everything at 100% (Hebrews 13)

Is balance about either/or? Or is it about both/and?

Camp meeting was only a week ago and yet it feels like an eternity. For those of you who don't know what camp meeting is. We set up a camp ground with large pavilion type tents, wire in infrastructure, fill up every space with tents and RVs, and then we hold spiritual meetings for a week with 15,000 people when all is said and done.

I was coordinating the youth tent this year. We had 150 high school students for the first few days and then up to 400 on the weekend. We had a great, very intense, and full week. One of the things I learned to do when we were on the road with a youth ministry team was to finish the week off with a word from each of us. We would play some really fun loud music and have a great time and then sit down for a "last words" chat. So I decided to do the same thing in the youth tent this year. All 7 of the youth pastors who were working in the youth tent were invited up front to share what was on there heart. If they could share one thing with the kids from the week what would it be?

It was a really great evening. We had a freshly graduated high school band, thank you arboretum, rock the walls of the tent and then we sat down for a chat. There were 6 of us up there, and there were 6 different perspectives shared. Here's the thing about the 6 most important things that were shared. They were all the most important thing. None of them was less important than the others. It really wasn't a matter of either or, pick and choose, go with what fits best with you. It was not just both/and but all/and. Every single perspective was good, needed, and yes the most important thing.

I was reminded of this when I was reading Hebrews 13. 13 is the last chapter of the book. These are the finishing admonitions of the author to their audience. When some one is about to die we listen closely to the last words they have to say. When we are finishing a letter we want the most important things to be said last. It has been studied and revealed people remember the first thing and the last thing we say the most. So we want the last things to count.

So how do we bring all of the last things in Hebrews together? Focus on loving one another these are good gifts to God. Come out of the city to the new blood of the covenant with Jesus. Marriages are important, keep the marriage bed pure, no sexual immorality. Be content with what you have don't chase after money. Strengthen yourself with grace not ceremonial foods.

So many different things, so what is the most important? How are we suppose to balance all of these varying statements? Be strengthened by grace, but act out your faith. Isn't this a contradiction, or at least two sides of the scale that need to be balanced?

NO

It's not either/or it's both/and. 100% on all of them. 100% strengthened by grace. 100% pure and free from sexual immorality. 100% loving others. 100% acceptance of the new covenant of Jesus' blood. 100% for everything for all of it. Yes, yes to all.

When we live out our lives for the cause of Christ we give it all. We live by grace towards those around us without judging them as worse then ourselves. We do this 100%. We also call them out of their sin and encourage them to be pure and to step out of any immoral relationship, to be content with their money, to share their resources with others. We do this 100% as well. We are saved by grace and we life out grace 100%.

I hope this can get through to me and my brain as well as to you. It's not a balancing act is all at 100%. I am a father 100%, I am a pastor 100%, I am a husband 100%, I am a friend 100%, I work at my job 100%, and I spend time with my family 100%.

May we give our all today, may we not do either/or, may we be and do all in all. God is the one who will strengthen us to do it 100% and we are the ones who will respond to him 100%. May we live life to the fullest...100%!

scraped...sore...and broken backs (Hebrews 12)

When was the last time you were tempted to loose faith?

We are getting ready to leave today and take my daughter to day camp. She is all dressed and ready to go. She is sitting on the top of the couch and makes her attempt to get down. As she does she scraps her back along the back of the couch. It's just a little fabric burn and you can't even see any redness, but it is enough to bring the tears.

I see this happen, give her comfort and a Popsicle thinking all the time this is nothing. I remember when I was a kid. We had a boat and I loved to knee board. One day we were out on the river and I caught some nice air off of the wake. But the nose of the knee board re-entered the water first. This flipped me over on my face and gave me major whip lash. I couldn't move a whole lot the rest of the boat ride home.

This is of course nothing compared to the pain my dad goes through every day with the discs in his back deteriorating by the moment.

And even still compared to a student of mine in Colorado my dad's condition is nothing as well. Working as a tree trimmer in high school, the branch he was hooked onto snapped and he wakes up in the hospital no longer able to move his legs.

There are degrees of suffering in this world. There are also degrees of temptation. Sometimes I think how can Jesus have any idea what I am going through. He didn't have all the stuff we have now. He didn't have internet, or drugs, or naughty emails, or movies, he wasn't even married!

Hebrews 12 helps bring it back in to perspective though. Have any of us been tempted to the point of shedding blood? I know I haven't. There might be some of you reading this that have, I don't know. The point is, Jesus has been tempted at every level as we have but he didn't give in so the devil had to turn up the heat. Why would the devil ever need to make it harder for us if we just give in at the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level? He wouldn't. So we haven't experienced anything close to the Son of God who never gave in.

I think this helps with the deeper more underlying temptation when we are in the middle of our own suffering. The temptation to give up on faith. The temptation to say, well God you aren't there for me so why should I pay any attention to you? I also believe this is why Hebrews encourages us to look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12 goes on to tell us our Father in heaven disciples those he loves. He allows us to go through hard things to better shape us into the image of his holiness. He has not left us, he hasn't forgotten us. He is sustaining us through these are things so we can be stronger in the end.

I know this has been true in my life. Many of you know my marriage got really hard a little over a year ago. How could a pastor struggle so much with his marriage? Aren't they suppose to have it together more than the rest of us? Well I am here to tell you pastors are people too, and we need to grow just as much as everybody else. It was painful to confront the things not working in our marriage especially my stuff. But we did it and we are much better now because of it.

The truth of it is, no matter how bad our suffering is our Father in Heaven is there with us. My daughters little scrape on her back may have been nothing to me, but it was a big deal to her she needed me to be there. She needed me to take care of her.

Even if our temptation or our suffering in nothings compared to the suffering Jesus went through. He doesn't stand up there and scoff. He is our high priest who understands us, who has been through it. And going through it produced all the more compassion towards us.

May we have the same spirit today as does Christ, that through our sufferings we will not look with contempt on those who are going through less, but rather we feel compassion towards them and lift their eyes to the author and perfecter of our faith.

Hurry up and Wait! (Hebrews 11)

Anyone else tired of waiting?

My daughter does not wait well. She is very much an in the moment kind of girl. If she wants something she wants it now, in the moment, for immediate enjoyment. And when she has received it she is ready for the next thing. We went to visit my folks over the 4th this July. One of the activities we were looking forward too was floating down the river. Lorelai was really excited to get in the truck to go. Then she was really excited to get there for the entirety of the 20 minute drive. Then she was excited to get in the boat. Once we were in the boat she wanted to be floating and once we were floating she wanted the next "bumpy water" and before long she wanted to know when we would get back to the car. She did give in and enjoy the float, the bumpy water, and paddling us around in circles.

Oh and here's another one, as soon as one cartoon is over she wants me to find her a new show even though there will be another one as soon as the commercial is over. She just can't wait through the commercial. She wants the new show now in this moment!

She is not all that different from her dad or the rest of us really. We want the next thing now. We are looking for the fulfillment of our lives, appetites, or attention spans.

I am beginning to realize from Hebrews chapter 11 what Lorelai and I might be needing to learn is not so much patience as it is faith. As we cruise through the lives of those in chapter 11 we see they did great things by faith for sure. Noah built an ark by faith, Abraham left his home by faith, the judges conquered armies by faith. But the fuller explanation of faith seems to be the assurance of what has not happened yet. They do all these things looking forward the the city of God not yet built, looking forward to the messiah who has not yet come, to the promise yet to come.

I have to ask myself as I live my daily life, do I live based on the promise yet to come? We talk about telling the world the good news of Jesus so we will see him come. When we finish this task then the end will come. So we need to get busy, time must not be wasted we have got to get this done. But I have to ask is this really what Jesus meant? Did the actions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, Enoch bring the coming of the messiah any closer? Did they do the things they did in order to get the messiah to come sooner? The answer is no, they really didn't. Moses tried to get the exodus going early by killing that Egyptian slave master, but that didn't work out either. God has his time line in mind. He knows when things will happen. It does not seem we will be changing his time lines any time soon.

So we act as those in the hall of faith in Hebrews chap. 11 do, by faith rather than for results to be brought about on our own effort. We are still waiting for Jesus to come the second time and complete salvation delivering us from a broken world just as those in the past have been waiting. But its not so much about being patient or finishing a task as much as it is faith and trust in the one who gave us the task. He will come through and so we live as if we actually trust him to do so. We faithfully do the things he asks us to do simply because we trust him and he asked us to do them.

May our lives be deepened in the moment by living in faithful assurance of the one who created the universe, shaped the lives of those before us, and will keep his promise to come again.

Why do we hang out again? (Hebrews 10)

Why do we go to church anyway?

People get together for all sorts of different reasons. We form clubs all the time. We have a book of the month club, a shooting club, a gaming club. Sometimes we get together just to get drunk or shoot the breeze or watch a TV show. Special occasions are used to gather together. How many of you have a 4th of July barbeque planned? How many families or groups of friends with gather together this weekend across the US to celebrate and independence day from 1776 that we really don't remember. But we love to have a good time together and we love to share in the freedom to do whatever we feel like doing. Eat way to much food served on the barbe, drink way to much, light up the sky with explosive color. We really love to come together and do whatever we can think of as a reason for coming together.

I'll never forget getting together for one of my best friend's weddings. More specifically the bachelor party. I went to Walmart to help pick up the supplies. We rolled through the aisles and when we got done we had a cart full of clay pigeons, shot gun ammo, and beer...twelve cases each. Oh and one case of soda for me the preacher man. Sounds like a rather dangerous combination. It really wasn't all the dangerous, it was a lot of fun with 6 shot guns and lots of things to blow-up. What could a group of guys want more?

Hebrews 10 encourages us to not forsake meeting together as is the habit of some. Which seems a little strange all by itself sense we gather together all the time for all sorts of different reasons. As we take in more of the chapter we see there is a specific reason for gathering together. To encourage one another to draw near to God and to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Jesus' body is compared to the curtain in the temple when he was torn so was the curtain and we are no longer separated from God by our sin. We can draw near to God. But how often do we forget? How often do we get focused on the things of life and forget to draw near to God? How often do we forget to focus on the good and loving things?

I can get so focused on simply surviving in my day to day tasks, and then zoning out with some sort of entertainment. But life is more than this, there is a God who wants me to draw near and there are good and loving things to do. Spending time with my family. Playing with my daughter. Giving my time to those who are in need. We need to gather together to encourage each other on to these things.

Many times this verse is used to say, "You need to go to church! You should not forsake gathering together as is the habit of some." I think going to church is a good thing, don't get me wrong. I am a pastor after all. But what are we doing when we gather together in church? Are we really encouraging one another to draw near to God? Are we really spurring one another on to loving and good deeds? "Sure we are the songs and the sermon cover these things all the time." But is it personal enough?

It's easy to listen to a sermon and then expect that it's for everyone else. Do we gather together with others who can REALLY encourage us, hold us accountable, and know enough about who we are as individuals to actually see a difference in our lives? I know how my pursuit of God, good deeds, and loving things is greatly increased when I am accountable to others. It's hard to open up to let people actually speak into my life. But this is what it really means to gather together for the purposes expressed in Hebrews 10.

May we know we can come boldly into the presence of God. May we live in good and loving ways. And may we gather together to encourage one another on to these things.