Let the Kingdom show!

Read this today in my devotional time.  Here, on day 3 of the season of Easter fasting we call Lent, I found it a powerful statement from an amazing woman of faith:

Pandita Ramabai, a nineteenth-century Indian activist, said, “People must not only hear about the kingdom of God, but must see it in actual operation, on a small scale perhaps and in imperfect form, but a real demonstration nevertheless.”

Indeed, Lord, let Your Kingdom come and will be done!  Followers of Christ, let us reveal the Kingdom in our hearts and lives this season!

Ancient words

I'm finding great wisdom in reading some of the early church's leaders.  Here is one I came across from common prayer.net:  

Clement, an early bishop of Rome, wrote, “When the heathen hear the words of God from our lips, they marvel at them as something beautiful and great. However, when they find out that our deeds are unworthy of the words we speak, they turn from this to blasphemy. They say it is a myth and a delusion.”

Our orthodoxy meets orthoproxy in a beautiful partnership to show the world the good news of Jesus!

Counting the cost

Too often people see the church as an emergency help organization or another agency to work among the poor or marginalized.  In one sense, this is true, however, if that is all she is, there is a great bit of truth missing.  The cross, suffering, sin, and the whole idea of God's Kingdom and eternity.  I read these words this morning related to this:

Flannery O’Connor said, “I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. What -people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”

I would walk...15,000 miles???

I was doing some research on the walking situation that would have been the norm for travel in the first century and I ran across this article in Christianity Today:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-59/on-road.html


The article points out that Jesus likely logged 15,000 miles of walking in His short life.  Wow!

Those early followers of Christ walked!  Jesus walked.  People did some serious walking.  It makes me think that in our world, walking might just need a resurgence!  When we walk or hike, we're talking, observing, connecting with each other, with nature, with God's presence.  We are experiencing the natural world and our senses are engaged.

Maybe the most spiritual thing we might do this new year is endeavor to WALK more!  I know I am!

J.D. Salinger and The Jesus Prayer

Most know Salinger's book The Catcher in Rye but I'd never read anything else of his until his book Franny & Zooey was recommended.  I was pleasantly surprised that the main content of the book involves a brother and sister's wrestling with the place of the Jesus Prayer in life and the Spiritual journey.  Today I reread this phrase by the brother to his sister Franny:

"Jesus...in the New Testament...He's only the most intelligent man in the Bible...Jesus realized there is no separation from God...Jesus knew - KNEW - that we're carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us...

I wonder if the early church leadership would say the same?  Sounds like Jesus' teaching on prayer doesn't it?  "May your kingdom come, your will be done..."

Ben

Charming the muse...

In an effort to jump-start my own creative work this new year, I read the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield today.  He mentions praying / mediating on this invocation before he starts his writing work each day.  It at least provides an insight into some of the mystery of the creative world that artists occupy...sort of odd, but, hey, I'd never heard of anyone going through such a routine!

The Odyssey of Homer

translated from the Greek by T. E. Lawrence

INVOCATION

---

O DIVINE POESY
GODDESS-DAUGHTER OF ZEUS
SUSTAIN FOR ME
THIS SONG OF THE VARIOUS-MINDED MAN
WHO AFTER HE HAD PLUNDERED
THE INNERMOST CITADEL OF HALLOWED TROY
WAS MADE TO STRAY GRIEVOUSLY
ABOUT THE COASTS OF MEN
THE SPORT OF THEIR CUSTOMS GOOD OR BAD
WHILE HIS HEART
THROUGH ALL THE SEA-FARING
ACHED IN AN AGONY TO REDEEM HIMSELF
AND BRING HIS COMPANY SAFE HOME

VAIN HOPE—FOR THEM
FOR HIS FELLOWS HE STROVE IN VAIN
THEIR OWN WITLESSNESS CAST THEM AWAY
THE FOOLS
TO DESTROY FOR MEAT
THE OXEN OF THE MOST EXALTED SUN
WHEREFORE THE SUN-GOD BLOTTED OUT
THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN

MAKE THE TALE LIVE FOR US
IN ALL ITS MANY BEARINGS
O MUSE

Stay-cation

From Christmas through New Years my family took a break from our normal routine of work and spent time resting.  During that time I was able to read 3 books - one of which I took several notes on called What God You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith.  A few notes I made were:

p82 We can’t see in ourselves what we can see so clearly in others.

p90 I won’t learn less (by hearing people out)

p154 There’s no on/off switch for caring, empathy and showing respect.  it’s always on.

p174  Helping people be right is more productive than proving them wrong!

p221 The great Western Culture disease lies in the phrase, “I will be happy when…"

Some good stuff to ponder here and some sound very familiar to the Biblical texts like...

Matthew 7:1-4  "Plank in your own eye first..."

James 1:19 "Be quick to listen..."

Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good..."

Matthew 20:16 "So the last will be first and the first will be last..."

John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and life to the full!"

Additionally from Sunday's message...

In regards to the challenge to see eternity as a reality and that Christ followers live today in ways that echo into eternity, Former Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright of Durham has written:

“The whole point of what -Jesus was up to was that he was doing close up, in the present, what he was promising long-term in the future. And what he was promising for that future and doing in the present was not saving souls for a disembodied eternity but rescuing -people from the corruption and decay of the way the world presently is so they could enjoy, already in the present, that renewal of creation which is God’s ultimate purpose —  and so they could thus become colleagues and partners in that large project.”

John Piper's Passion of Jesus Christ

I just finished this short book this morning and found some powerful statements that I just wanted to share:

p49 being sanctified means that we are imperfect and in process

p59 don’t follow a defeated foe.  Follow Christ.  It is costly.  You will be an exile in this age.  But you 

will be free.

p62  Christianity is not first theology but news.

p87 Christ-inhabited, Christ-sustained, Christ-strengthened (self) - That’s what a Christian is.

p94  Christ died to create comrades on the Calvary road.

p117 Paradise will not be a hall of mirrors.  It will be a display of majesty.  And it won’t be ours.

Here is a link to the book:  https://www.amazon.com/Passion-Jesus-Christ-ByJohn-Piper/dp/B003AUD338

Learning to coach

I have recently been through an 8 week crash course in learning to be a life coach and it has really opened my eyes to a reality of our human condition.  We don't like to be told what to do!  In fact, in a recent post by one of the teachers of the crash course, he writes, "it goes against human nature to accept someone else’s ideas in place of our own."

Jesus wasn't ignorant of this.  I think of all the times that He coached people to discover truth by simply using really good questions.

I am on a new mission to give less advice and trust that by using good questions, people can discover some great solutions for life.  Wasn't it James that told us to be "quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry"?  Good words there!

Strange word from 1 John 2:2 explained...

In the text we studied in our 2nd message in the series “Overcomers - The Letter of 1 John” we didn’t talk about a strange word John uses in 2:2 that the NIV and the ESV English versions translate as “propitiation”.  In context, John writes, 

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The word comes from a Greek term that signifies an ‘atoning sacrifice’ (for sin) or an ‘expiation’ of sorts.   Ok, those terms may not help us much. The term has been defined like an ‘appeasement of wrath by an angry diety’ but, this is the true picture for the story we find in Christ.  As John Stott puts it, 

There can, therefore, be no question of human beings appeasing an angry deity by their gifts. The Christian propitiation is quite different, not only in the character of the divine anger but in the means by which it is propitiated. It is an appeasement of the wrath of God by the love of God through the gift of God. The initiative is not taken by us, nor even by Christ, but by God himself in sheer unmerited love. His wrath is averted not by any external gift, but by his own self-giving to die the death of sinners. This is the means he has himself contrived by which to turn his own wrath away (cf. Pss 78:38; 85:2–3; 103:8–10; Mic. 7:18–19).

Stott, J. R. W. (1988). The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 19, p. 92). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

So, God is the one who not only pursues us fiercely because of His love, He actively paid for our sins Himself to satisfy and fulfill all righteousness.  It is ALL ABOUT GOD here!  That is some GOOD news!

Pastor Ben

Rain falls

So the Bauman family had a tough day yesterday as Dylan was pre diagnosed with moderate Chron's Disease.  We are sad and shocked by the news and are now reading and learning all we can about this condition.  We are also just praying for God's comfort and presence with Dylan as he wrestles with the reality of this news.  Lord, have mercy on us.

Hitting 9

This past weekend Dallas Church reached a milestone - 9 years old and counting!  I had a lot of mixed emotions heading into the weekend.  Overall, I wanted to see the church still engaged in our community, still interested in seeking people far from the Lord and building a community of faith that puts faith and love into ACTION!  

The message Sunday was simply the story of how God created Dallas Church.  It was a personal, risky and at times scary journey for my family and others.  Here are a few things I also wanted to communicate Sunday...

Taking a cue from the story of the sheep & goats (Matthew 25), we find that love without action is sentimentalism; actions without love is cold legalism, but, love flowing through action is beautiful.  

So, the big question is, what is God calling YOU to do?  What are your resources, gifting, talents and passions pointing YOU to?  It may not be to move across the country and start a new church like the Baumans, but, there is a role for YOU to play in growing God's kingdom and network of love here in our world.

Here are a few big sky dreams I believe God may be calling us all to...WHAT IF:

We were a catalyst for arts in our community?

Our worship gatherings were more dynamic, engaging, challenging, inspiring were people were spontaneously praying for each other in our gatherings; encouraged one another - challenging and supporting each other?

We were all having meals and connecting w/ friends, neighbors who are not part of a church?

Our disciples went into the US south/Bible belt to plant new churches?

We were known by our love of people and our devotion to prayer and we had an undeniable hunger & thirst for the Lord & His kingdom?

God performed miracles in and through us as we prayed hard for His will daily?

Our faith was so strong in the Lord that we could indeed move mountains?

Marriages in our church were stronger than ever?

Our generosity reached such a level that we changed some people's lives forever?

It's time to keep dreaming about what God could do in and through us in 2017!

Join me in the journey!
Pastor Ben

What fills your tank?

I've heard people say this in the treatment of burnout, stress and even depression, but, I rarely hear much about HOW you figure out what fills the tank.  Today I found this article and though I'd post it...I like the idea of trying out some new stuff!

http://www.ibelieve.com/health-beauty/keeping-your-emotional-tank-full.html

Prayer lifts us up!

Good quote today...

Gregory Palamas, a fourteenth-century monk of Mount Athos, said, “This is the nature of prayer: that it raises one from earth to heaven, higher than every heavenly name and dignity, and brings one before the very God of all.”

Seasons

As the mornings grow a bit colder and the evening comes quicker, I have been reflecting on the last several weeks.  I've handled about 4 funerals.  I officiated a wedding.  I'm facing my last class needed to complete a Masters degree and my daughter got married.  My son will have his license soon and he's got a car.  In all this, my wife is back at full time work and we're getting more used to our new smaller house.   Tomorrow I'll have another coaching session with a guy who moved his family to New Zealand to plant a new church.

In the midst of all this I realized that I have probably prayed more this year than any previous year.  God is still in charge and He still speaks in the quiet.

What will the fall season bring?  This past Sunday, in speaking about being devoted to prayer, I shared this statement taken from Paul E. Miller's book A Praying Life:

If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money and talent are all you need in life. (p49)  This is functional atheism.  You simply cannot do this life alone.  Jesus knew this, so, MAKE TIME TO PRAY.

Whatever comes, I know that staying close to the Lord in prayer will be the rock for this guy!

On Prayer...can't lose!

There was a TV series a few years ago that was about high school football in a small town in Texas called Friday Night Lights.  I don't really remember much of the individual episodes but one mantra was repeated by the coach and the team before every game.  It was:

CLEAR EYES, FULL HEART, CAN’T LOSE! 

Now, if you were to ask me what spending time in prayer does - well, that might be my answer most days.  The Holy Spirit just resets my life in those moments...

Preparing for September's Prayer [devoted to] series...

In Paul E. Miller's book, A Praying Life, he notes how prayer is essentially getting to know a person (God), and, in our fast paced culture, he writes, "Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart." (Miller 2009, 23). 

So, we lean in to discover the heart of God Himself.  Exciting journey ahead!

On Prayer...

I have been reading a few books for the upcoming sermon series on prayer and I loved this statement in the discussion of just praying during our ordinary, everyday work lives..."In a world in which Winning Through Intimidation is the order of the day, I am attracted to people who are free from the tyranny of assertiveness.  I am drawn to those who are able to simply meet people where they are, with no need to control or manage or make them do anything." (p. 174)

Yup.

Thanks Richard Foster for your book Prayer!

Words from Martin Luther King...

I read this today and was challenged about what it means to develop colonies of heaven in every place Christ followers live...

Martin Luther King Jr. said this: “There was a time when the church was very powerful. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being ‘disturbers of the peace’ and ‘outside agitators.’ But they went on with the conviction that they were ‘a colony of heaven,’ and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be ‘astronomically intimidated.’ They brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contest.”