Possessions or Experiences?

I’ve seen the expression twice in the last couple weeks, and I agree whole-heartedly with it. “Don’t accumulate possessions, accumulate experiences.”

Think about it. What are the things we miss in life because we’re too busy earning a paycheck or accumulating more stuff? Our kids grow up and we don’t know them. There is breathtaking beauty all around us and we don’t even see it. Mission trips we could be taking. Service projects we could be coordinating.

Just last weekend I coached my daughter and her team to victory in their Rec League basketball game. Watching those girls shoot 15% from the floor and still outscore their opponents 28-10 was hilarious, exciting, emotionally draining and unforgettable! You couldn’t pay me enough to miss that kind of thing. And I refuse to get old and gray in the pursuit of things that will rust and decay. Possession might make me a richer man, but experiences make be both richer and better! And, to top it off, I get to look back without regret because my life has been full and good.

I said all that to say this week promises to be one full of great experiences. My family and I are on a brief respite from work and school. We are spending the week together and have some really fun (and inexpensive) things planned. Perhaps I’ll share some of them with you as the week unfolds.

What are the experiences you’re planning?

Men’s Ministry

We had our first Men’s Breakfast this morning, the unofficial launch of our men’s ministry at Grace, and a very encouraging time it was. Not only did we have a good turnout – 23 guys – but we had a great time of sharing, prayer and vision casting for the future of this exciting ministry. God is doing amazing things among the men of our church, which speaks of great things to come for our church.

Kudos to the following guys who helped make it happen.

• Ray Alvarado – for setting up the Family Life Center.
• Philip Batton – for heading up the cooking crew, and showing up at 5:30 AM to get the breakfast burritos done on time.
• Mark Fritch, Ron Crane and Dan Welch – for getting up long before breakfast so the rest of us could enjoy a good one!
• Pastor Brian Taylor – for organizing the event.
• Everyone Else – for showing up to make this a benchmark in our church’s history. Don’t forget this day. Don’t underestimate the value of what took place at 1415 Lonestar Rd this morning. It is big!

I will be writing more about this significant ministry, and the leader God is raising up, in the near future.

Jesus Help It

I heard it again this morning when I handed Isaiah his bowl of cereal. He bowed his little head to pray and said, “Jesus help it…help it…Jesus help it…Amen. Granted, he was eating Crunch Berries, and the Captain’s not the king of nutritional value. But no matter the time or menu, or occasion, Isaiah’s two-year-old prayer is nearly always the same, “Jesus help it.”

We smile as such simplicity, and figure he’ll “grow up someday.” But I wonder if there isn’t something valuable to learn from this prayer. A return to the less sophisticated might do us a world of good. It might actually get us praying again if we realized we could come to our heavenly Father without all the verbiage that often makes our prayers so ineffective. Jesus told us to pray like this, “Our Father (abba means daddy) in Heaven…”

I’m reading a book right now called “The Furious Longing of God” in which author Brennan Manning encourages readers to take a few moments each day to turn their palms upward and pray simply, “Abba, I belong to You.” He says, “don’t make it anything more than that; trust me, it’s enough.”

Thanks Isaiah, and thanks Brennan, for the liberating reminder that Christ bids me come as a little child. At least for today I’m going to try to lose my sophistication and “maturity” and approach the Father just as I am.

Why don’t you join me?

Points to Ponder

I’m still on pace after month one. Just finished my fifth book of the year and it’s one of the most quotable books I’ve read in awhile. Mark Batterson writes about what he calls the lost soul of Christianity and says to experience a new reformation in our generation we must return to the Great Commandment, which is Christianity in its primal (original and foundational) form. In the book, Batterson breaks down the Great Commandment–”to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”–and challenges us rediscover, re-imagine, and radically reapply its truths to our lives. I have been convicted as I’ve read. Here are a few thoughts to stir you.

All of us love miracles. We just don’t like being in situations where we need one. But that is a prerequisite. You will never experience the power of God until you put yourself in a situation that necessitates it.

Or this.

Here is one of the great ironies and great dangers of loving God with all your mind. You have to think and rethink, but you can’t over-think. And there is a fine line between rethinking and over-thinking. But here is what I know for sure: over analysis always results in spiritual paralysis. If you try to logically figure God out you will never take a step of faith. Why? Because the will of God is not logical.

And this.

Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear. Obedience equals God-honoring decisions in the face of temptation. And compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed.

Get the book here. I highly recommend it.

Coaching…again!

A couple of my kids signed up for basketball through the Nampa Rec League this winter. No sooner had they gotten Katie’s information than they called to tell me there was no coach for her team and was I interested. Not really…but being the soft-hearted guy that I am, I consented! Actually, I was thinking this might be interesting; I haven’t coached girls before.

I’m not sure if interesting was the right word, but so far I CAN say I’m having fun. We’ve had three practices and one game (a loss), and I’ve learned two valuable lessons.

1. Girls can’t hit lay-ups! Our first drill was to line up on either side of the basket, four to a side. Girls came from one direction to shoot a lay-up, while the others came from the opposite direction to rebound the ball and “feed” it to the next player. They’re pretty good at rebounding and passing, BUT THEY CAN’T SHOOT! No matter how many times I said, slow down and make sure the ball goes through the hoop, they would throw it up too hard, or at the wrong angle, or miss the backboard entirely. Sigh! It’s tough to win basketball games without scoring. But there is some good news.
2. Girls listen far better than boys! This is the most exciting thing about my new job. Honestly, I don’t care that they can’t shoot, at least they HEAR what I say, will go where I tell them to go, and, apart from actually getting the ball through the hoop, follow directions meticulously. Seriously, these girls are really smart. We’ve worked on passing, on rotation, on defense. Every new thing I introduced, they have followed my instruction and done what they are told. We may not win a game all season (I actually think we’ll have a winning record) but at least I won’t lose my voice screaming directions.

In case you’re interested, we did score 20 points in our first loss. Final score was 30-20. Not bad for girls who can’t shoot.

Oh, and one other thing. We had team pictures on Monday. We were scheduled for 7:10 PM. These eight girls all arrived early, got in line, smiled beautifully and finished THREE MINUTES after they were scheduled to begin. I can handle that kind of “hassle”.

You go girls!

New Media Files

I’ve been working to get our web site up to date, and met with our media guy (thanks Jeremy!) to arrange to have some files uploaded and linked. He was very prompts and you can now go to www.nampagrace,com, go to the media page, or the series on Revelation, and check out the latest audio files.

There is one that I’m particularly excited to tell you about. It’s the audio of our Thanksgiving Celebration from 2009. The testimonies were fantastic, and already God is preparing us for another great Praise Service in 2010. If you’re wondering whether God is still working, or if you’ve forgotten what He’s done of late, go to the website and listen to the Thanksgiving Celebration audio. You will be blessed, I promise.

Boldness and Faith

My reading this morning led me to two separate accounts, one from the Old Testament, the other from the New, that uncover a powerful formula for spiritual success–boldness and faith!

In the Old Testament passage Abraham has been told of the pending judgment to come upon Sodom and immediately beseeches the Lord on behalf of the righteous who might be found there. Though I’ve read the passage a hundred times it never ceases to inspire me as Abraham boldly ups the ante, asking the Lord to spare the city if only 50 righteous can be found, then 45 and 40, 30, 20, and 10. Each times he makes the request you sense his reverence, his humility, “though I am but dust and ashes”, and his courage to ask for ALL that is in his heart. He is not chastised for his boldness. Instead, he is granted the request, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Then, in the New Testament (Matthew 15) I read of a Gentile woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon who pleads with the Lord on behalf of her daughter possessed by a demon. At first he ignores her completely; the disciples (always compassionate) urge him to send her away because she’s turning into a nuisance. Finally, Jesus simply informs her that he didn’t come for her, but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I guess she’s out of luck, right? Not exactly. Follow this exchange. The scriptures says,

She came and worshipped him, pleading again, ‘Lord, help me!’ Jesus responded, ‘it isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.’ She replied, ‘That’s true Lord, but even the dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall from the Master’s table.’

Wow! Imagine this Gentile woman believing that God’s scraps are more than enough to meet her needs. And she asks with the confidence that He will allow her to gather just a few. He does.

‘Dear woman,’ Jesus said to her, ‘your faith is great. Your request is granted.’

OK, so here’s the challenge. Perhaps today we could combine the courage of Abraham with the faith of this Gentile woman. I wonder what God might do?! I dare you to give it a try.

Story

God used it often to reveal Himself and convey his glory in the pages of Scripture, and it’s power as a means of communication and personal reminder is undisputed. So, I feel an urging to begin writing, and documenting, the stories of God’s power and redemption in our congregation and community. Many are already in my head and heart, they simply need to be put on paper.

First I will record the stories that can already be told. And I’ve got quite a repertoire. In the meantime, however, I am praying for many more. In fact, my prayer is one new story of redemption -either an individual or family – for every Sunday of 2010. I got a brand new one this week!

Pray with me and you too will be part of the story.

In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day

Got some great books from Amazon yesterday from authors like Brennan Manning, Francis Chan and Mark Batterson. In fact, three of them are books by Batterson and I could hardly figure which one I wanted to read first. I chose “In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day” and I’m loving it. The subtitle is, “how to survive and thrive when opportunity roars.”

He makes the point that how we view opportunities and obstacles in our lives is determined by our prior view of God. Here’s what he says,

According to A.W. Tozar, the most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you think about God. “Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ‘What comes to your mind when you think about God?’ we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man.”

Batterson continues,

How we think about God will determine who you become. You aren’t just a product of nature and nurture. You are a byproduct of your God-picture. And that internal picture of God determines how you see everything else.

Most of our problems are not circumstantial. Most of our problems are perceptual. Our biggest problems can be traced back to an inadequate understanding of who God is.

And here’s the kicker…

Our problems seem really big because our God seems really small.

So, how big is your God? Do you need to see him differently than you do today?

How he loves us!

I’m not a huge fan of the David Crowder Band, but I love this song!

Revelation Series

We’re gearing up for the second message in our Revelation preaching series, Lord willing, to take place tomorrow morning.

Remember the outline of the book is given in chapter one where John is commanded to write the “things which you have seen (1), and the things which are (2), and the things which will take place after this (3).” The events in chapter one are the “things which you have seen”, we introduced that last week. So tomorrow we dive into chapters two and three, Christ’s message to the seven churches of Asia Minor. These are “the things which are”, an incredibly relevant message for today’s church.

As you prepare yourself for the message tomorrow, ask yourself these questions:

• What is true of the churches of John’s day that is also true of our church – Grace Bible Church?
• What is true of those churches that is also true of ME?
• When the Spirit speaks to me regarding these truths, how am I going to respond?
• How might I make a difference in correcting any wrongs within our church so that we might be fully commended and uncondemned?

Be prayerful. God has a message for us in the morning!

Acts 7

If you’re looking for a brief history of Israel, and an overview of the Old Testament in a single chapter, read ACTS 7. Stephen is under fire and he responds to his accusers by recounting their own history – marvelously and without excuse. It costs him his life, but what he passes on to us, in word and deed, is a great gift.

By the way, the Scripture seems to indicate Stephen had an impact on one Saul of Tarsus that was unforgettable.

Check it out.

2010 Bible Reading Plan

Nearly a week into the New Year, I’m wondering how your Bible reading is coming along. Hopefully you’re following along with the corporate plan our church is promoting, or you’ve found another great plan (there are lots of them out there) that works better, and you’re reading daily and absorbing the truth of God’s Word.

Here are a few suggestions to help you stay on track and get the most out of your reading.

1. Observation. As you read daily, observe carefully what you are reading and look for things that stand out. For example, I was reading in Genesis 5 and noticed in the geneological record of Adam that one guy stood out from the rest. Of everyone else it was simply stated, “he lived and he died”. But of Enoch it was said, “Enoch walked with God…and he was not, for God took him.” I’m not as interested in his unusual departure as much as the fact that the Biblical writer noticed his walk with God was utterly different than others in his generation. Make those kinds of observations, and let God speak to you through them.
2. Interpretation. It isn’t sufficient to know what the Bible says, you must know what it means by what it says. Here you look for an interpretation, and I encourage you to begin the interpretive process without the aid of a lot of study tools. Such tools are readily available, and they are incredibly helpful. But they can also become a crutch preventing us from ever thinking deeply for ourselves. Seek to know what God is saying in a passage and when you’ve reached a conclusion, compare your findings with others. If you need some helpful word study tools and/or commentaries, here is a helpful link to a great site.
3. Application. After you have made observation and interpretation, there is one final, necessary step – application. Here you are asking, “what does this mean to me? James urges us to “be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving (ourselves).” The intent then is to take the truth we have gleaned and put it into practice. Using the example of Enoch from above you might ask yourself, “how can I live so that others will notice I am walking with God?” Maybe there are changes at work, at home, at school, etc, that the Lord would like you to make in order to boost your reputation as a Christian. By listing those changes and prayerfully living them out you are applying the Scriptures to daily life. Transformation is guaranteed to follow.

It may seem, at first glance, that these steps will take more time than you can give. Not necessarily. It’s not as much a matter of adding more time as much as it is simply a different approach to your reading and study.

Try it.
Let me know how it works.

Happy New Year

You’ve likely noticed that I’ve not posted much over the holidays. In addition to necessary work, and planning for the year ahead, I’ve been trying to spend as much time as possible with family. It’s been a great couple of weeks, and today I plan to top it off by watching the Rose Bowl parade with the kids and some great football games later on.

Things are getting ready to ramp up in 2010. So, enjoy your New Year’s celebrations, get rested up, and then join me in anticipating (and working toward) a fabulously successful 2010!

May God’s best be yours this year!

To Be Good or To Have the Good Life

Ran across this from John Ortberg this morning. At this Christmas time, and with us nearing the threshold of a New Year, it’s something important to consider. He writes,

We live in the tension between our desire to have the good life and our
desire to be good people. A fascinating place to see this tension on
display is to open up a newspaper and compare advertisements with
obituaries. Ads tell us: “here’s how to have great hair, great teeth,
great clothes, great food, great sex, great cars and great bodies.” But
obituaries never say: he had great hair, great teeth, great clothes,
great food, great sex, great cars and a great body. We want to be good
people, but we’re willing to give it up to have the good life. We want
to have what is offered in the ads but be what is spoken in the
obituaries.

You can read the entire article from Ortberg here.