:::jonathan herron:::

Change

I'm currently re-reading An Unstoppable Force: daring to become the church God had in mind.  Love these words from Erwin McManus:

"We must never forget that we serve the changeless God of change.  God is not satisfied with the status quo.  He is not trying to keep up with culture.  His greatest ambition is not for the church to become a great imitator of generational trends.  He is the God of creativity, the God of imagination, and the God that chose - through his Son - to ignite a revolution...

"From Moses to David and Elijah to Jeremiah, a fundamental requirement of following God has been leaving the secure and predictable in order to follow God into a world where only He is unchanging."

"A real Christian is an odd number anyway.
He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen,
talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see,
expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another,
empties himself in order to be full,
admits he is wrong so he can be declared right,
goes down in order to get up,
is strongest when he is weakest,
richest when he is poorest,
and happiest when he feels worst.
He dies so he can live,
forsakes in order to have,
gives away so he can keep,
sees the invisible,
hears the inaudible,
and knows that which passes knowledge."  -  A. W. Tozer

Chewing on this...

"The Bible is mainly about Him, not about you:

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you – it’s about him."

- Tim Keller

Temech

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

A stone seal bearing the name of the Temech family has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David...  more

Newbigin on the Church

"The church is an entity which has outlasted many states, nations and empires, and it will outlast those that exist today. The Church is nothing other than that movement launched into the public life of the world by its sovereign Lord to continue that which He came to do until it is finished in His return in glory. It has His promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In spite of the crimes, blunders, compromises, and errors by which its story has been stained and is stained to this day, the Church is the great reality in comparison with which nations and empires and civilizations are passing phenomena. The Church can never settle down to being a voluntary society concerned merely with private, domestic affairs. It is bound to challenge in the name of the one Lord all the powers, ideologies, myths, assumptions, and world views which do not acknowledge Him as Lord. If that involves conflict, trouble, and rejection, then we have the example of Jesus before us and His reminder that a servant is not greater than his master."  - Leslie Newbigin

Grace in our messiness

This Sunday at Catalyst our Advent Conspiracy continues by looking at the historical narrative of Jesus' birth 2,000 years ago. 

Jesus is born. 
God in human flesh. 
The almighty Uncreated Creator is birthed of a virgin.  Blood, sweat, and outdoor animal smells usher in the Messiah.

I love that grittiness of the ancient scriptures.  Uncensored, unapologetic, uncanny.

N.T. Wright says this about the Bible:

"It’s a big book, full of big stories with big characters. They have big ideas (not least about themselves) and make big mistakes. It’s about God and greed and grace;
about life, lust, laughter and loneliness.
It’s about birth, beginnings, and betrayal; about siblings, squabbles, and sex; about power and prayer and prison and passion…
And that’s only Genesis."

God reveals Himself through these Scriptures.  A God far above and beyond human comprehension, the Infinite reaches out to the finite in Christ Jesus.   The Bible tells His story...  History.

The Bible gives me hope - there is grace in my messiness.  Though I continually fail, God's book reveals forgiveness at a scandalous scale.

No perfect people allowed in God's house.  Jesus' church is a hospital for the lost, let-down, and looking. 

Grace in our messiness.  Which makes me thankful for that 1st Christmas...

Brokenness

"When Jesus calls us to take up our crosses and follow him, he is calling believers to a form of brokenness. The old self needs to die. The self-centered orientation needs to be shattered. And the healing that comes beyond this brokenness does not involve simply picking up the pieces and gluing them back together so that we can go on being our old selfish selves. Rather, they are reconfigured into a new whole, a new self.

Just as the risen Christ still bore the stigmata, we too will bear the marks of our former brokenness as new persons in Christ. The old is both transfigured and transformed, but it is not entirely transcended in this lifetime, if by that one means it is totally left in the past.

We are called to remember where we have come from, what kind of persons we once were, to own up to our past and claim that God’s power is made perfect in our weaknesses. A cross-shaped life does not ever reach the place in this lifetime where it no longer needs to bear the cross or to stand in it’s shadow.”  ~ Ben Witherington

To Quote

"I have held many things in my hands,
and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands,
that I still possess." - Martin Luther

Emerging Church: Discerning a Missional Milieu

Wow - 3 brilliant lectures of Darrin Patrick speaking at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis:

Session One: The History and Streams of the Emerging Church

Session Two: Popular Terms of the Emerging Church

Session Three: Emerging Church - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (including Q and A)

Re:Greek

From our friends at Mars Hill Church and Resurgence, a new free online Greek tool for studying Scripture.

Amazing Quote on the Cross

"You can morally and evangelically do everything right and be just as pagan and just as wicked as the most horrific person you can imagine... 

Let's say you get up out of this place this morning and you sell everything you have... You sell your car, you sell your house.  All you're left with is the clothes on your back, and you take all that money and then you give it to the poor and then you go into God's throne room and say, 'See what I've done for You?' 

Do you know that the Scriptures say your little gift is like filthy rags to God?   

'Thanks for the dirty dish towel.  Get out of My throne room.'

This is why the book of Hebrews says the altar's closed. 

Yeah, so this should make a little bit of us nervous...  You're still guilty.  If your mom, great with child, fell down at the altar, shot you out onto the altar, baptism water tipped over, as you gargled you said 'Jesus,' and you had a birthmark of the cross on your side and you lived your whole life, you're still guilty, still in trouble. 

You will have believed that your righteous acts are better than the cross, you will have failed to acknowledge your need: your desperate, infinite, not-going-anywhere need for the God of the universe."
- Matt Chandler, Sovereign Over All

Spurgeon on God's Sovereignty

On the topic of God's sovereignty
(the rule of God is in it, over it, assigning it, designing it):

"It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think I have an affliction which God never sent me; that the bitter cup was never filled by His hand, that my trials were never measured out by Him, nor sent to me by His arrangement of their weight and quantity."

"If God is not God over my depression,
what shall I do?"

For Spurgeon, God's sovereignty was not a means of debate but a means of survival:

"The greatest earthly blessing God can grant us is health, with the exception of sickness."

Traditions

Studying up for Chapter 7 of Exodus this weekend - WOW!  God is rocking my world...

The plagues are a well-known section of the Bible - depicted in art and drama as a straight-up contest between YHWH (God) and Pharaoh. 

But check this out - in that culture, Pharaoh was the living symbol of the entire Egyptian society as a whole, supported by his priesthood (the “magicians” were all Egyptian priests), and the high court officials who made the central Egyptian government effective. 

Moses was facing not the mere stubbornness of one man, but the whole weight of a 2,000-year-old civilization!

In a sense, God came to shatter man-made traditions!  The whole system developed by men for the sake of men was to come crashing down when pitted against the will and overwhelming movement of God.  Talk about an allegory for church traditions kept for the sake of tradition!

Speaking of which, go read Steven Furtick's blog right now.  Imagine being an Egyptian answering God's fresh new agenda with, "We've never done that before..."

Weak is the New Strong

In Luke chapter 13, Jesus of Nazareth talks about how the Kingdom of God is like a tiny seed buried in the soil.

What do seeds do in the ground?  They die.

And then this tiny seed slowly rises to new life, eventually becoming a large tree that serves the birds.

The Christ-follower is on a constant journey of spiritual growth.  Like a tree sprouting from a seed, it takes time.  The end-goal is to bless others with uncensored grace.

But first we have to understand that to follow Jesus, something has to die.

Life is not about being a macho, strong action movie-star. Strength is futile in spirituality. 

Instead Moses and Paul model weakness to us.  Hardships and pain are the trophy marks of the God-chaser.

Because weak is the new strong.

...more and mp3.

To Quote

"Prayer is not preparation for the battle. It is the battle." 
-  E.M. Bounds

Vintage Jesus

Re:Lit, the new series of books from TheResurgence.com, is releasing its first hard-bound book through Crossway in February 2008 called Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions. 
2 things:

1)  VintageJesus.net has gone live. 
It looks amazing.

2)  There's a pre-release special going on right now at www.VintageJesus.net that includes:
• a 35% discount
• a free pdf copy of the book via email months before the book is published for your reading and blogging
• a signed copy of the book by Dr. Gerry Breshears and Mark Driscoll

I'm Sorry

I'm a graduate of The Second City Training Center in Chicago (Tina Fey was one of my teachers).  My college years were spent honing the art of social commentary and satire.  Today I try to use those skills to advance the Kingdom by pointing people to Jesus.

Yesterday I attempted to weigh in on the issue of ecclesiology - church structure and spiritual authority under Jesus.  While not taking a "side" in the blogosphere's current debate of the Convergent Conference, I did want to stand up for biblical pastoral authority.  I believe strongly in the words and example of Jesus, Paul, and Peter in protecting the sheep from wolves as an Elder.  As Matthew 24, 1 Timothy 1, and 2 Peter 2 reveal, publicly identifying leaders of false teachings is a paramount responsibility for an Overseer. 

Reasoned apologetics is a responsibility we must take seriously.  It's not enough to say "I'm for Jesus;" we must lovingly ask our friend, "WHO is Jesus?"  This is what distinguishes between historic orthodox Christianity and Mormonism, for example.

That said, my satirical take came off wrong - I apologize.  In the future, I will do my best to balance strong theology wrapped in responsible humor.  My heart is to make Jesus famous, not a blog post that comes off as flippant.

Driscoll, Rob Bell, and Heresy

1)  No, I do not have a man crush on Mark Driscoll.  I realize he's been in my last 3 blog posts...  it's just been an interesting, busy week from a brilliant theologian-leader I greatly respect.

2)  Yes, if I had to choose my Mars Hill pick, Driscoll trumps Rob Bell everytime.

3)  Yes, Driscoll went on the record Friday night at the Convergent Conference (the night after I shared dinner with him) and called out Bell as a heretic.  And backed it up biblically.

Listen to the entire free podcast here.

My notes:

There's 3 teams/streams in the Emerging Church:

- RELEVANTS: Cool church crowd.  Evangelical theology, innovative methodology.  Examples: Dan Kimball, Donald Miller ("Blue Like Jazz"), Erwin McManus, & John Burke.

- REVISIONISTS: Emergent Village.  Genesis 3 - SIN = error and falling came through a conversation.  Emergent has portrayed itself as a conversation on what God has said - "Did God mean what He said?"  When God speaks, we are not to converse but to OBEY. 

Revisionist Examples: 

Brian McLaren - NPR named him "The New Martin Luther." Refers to Jesus on the Cross as a form of "divine child abuse."

"McLaren has a new organization called 'Deep Shift.' I think someone inadvertantly put an 'F' in there."

Doug Pagitt - Inverts the Creator/creation relationship.  By definition, this is paganism (see Romans 1).

Rob Bell - Holds a trajectory hermeneutic, meaning the Bible doesn't teach certain things, but sets into motion ideas that later contradict the Bible (ex: egalitarian position argued from proposed trajectory theological evolution).  Believes our culture is more enlightened than Paul, Jesus, etc.   

Uses example of a trampoline to create a post-foundational theological presupposition.   Forgets that every flexible trampoline requires a sturdy frame!  Bell holds to views of the Ebionites, an early heretical group.

- RELEVANT REFORMED:  Contextual, confessional, evangelical New Reformed Calvinists.  Examples: Matt Chandler, Acts 29 Network, CJ Mahaney, & Joshua Harris.  Return to expositional Bible teaching that is theologically motivated and Jesus-centered. 

Different from older reformed theology: they're nice, want people to become Christians, and a little charismatic since we raise our hands to music written after the 18th Century. Biblically-faithful, culturally-fruitful.

Agree that the world has changed (is postmodern the right word?) - the assumptions of modernity no longer hold.  Agree that the old ministry methods aren't working.  Lost people are not coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus as we'd hope.  Therefore, renewed interest in church planting.

Piper on Bridge Disaster

"The word 'bridge' does not occur in the Bible. There may be two reasons. One is that God doesn't build bridges, he divides seas.
The other is that usually his people must pass through the deadly currents of suffering and death, not simply ride over them." 
-  John Piper on 08.01.07 at 9pm

"In acceptance is peace." - Amy Carmichael

Church Is... Monastic

The spiritual is not foreign to people, for at our in-most being, we are all partially spirit.

A.B. Simpson once said that the human spirit...

"...is the divine element in man, or perhaps more correctly, that which is cognizant of God."

Spirituality isn't the question.  Communion with God is.

If sin is the great separator, Jesus is the great reconciler between man and God.  As Christ-followers are not perfect, we continually seek the grace and forgiveness of Christ as we wrestle with putting to death our sin nature by the power of the cross.

This is the journey of the monastic.  Inward and upward both on a personal level and a community level.

The called out ones - the church - manifests in two basic forms in Acts: large macro gatherings of worshipers on Sunday mornings in the temple courts and small micro intimacy house-to-house.   While the singular unifying factor is always Jesus, the inward/upward change of the believer during these encounters is undeniable.  We ascribe worth to the Carpenter-King, and in doing so, participate in what we were created for - being worshipers.

Our hearts soar.  Our heavy spirits are healed.  Clarity of purpose becomes real. 
Worship in whatever form, whether through corporate singing or individual Bible study or small group prayer, is the chief inward/upward movement of the monastic. 

We share this journey with others in our local fellowship - our church family - so that we might encourage one another in the faith. As fellow journeymen.  Monastics.  Being the Church.  Jesus always spoke of His followers in plurality; there are no Lone Ranger Christians.

Eugene Peterson often says that the Psalms are the mirrors to our souls.  Resting in Christ Jesus - the Word incarnate - is the pathway of the monastics.

Church Is... Movement

"We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." - Peter & John in Acts 4.20

Healthy things grow.

If my 10-month-old son's body stops developing and growing,
I take him to the pediatrician.

If our church body stops growing in width and depth,
I take them to Jesus.

Why?  Because Jesus is our Senior Pastor.  Seriously. 
Check out 1 Peter 5. 
"Chief Shepherd." 
The Latin word for "shepherd" is "pastor."  And Jesus gets all the credit, glory, and honor as the builder and shaper of His Church.

I'm not the Senior Pastor of Catalyst; Jesus is.

It's His movement. 
An organically-growing revolution of shalom that is:
always inclusive, never exclusive
inviting freely, not invitation-only
sacrificing sacred cows (they make great burgers!)
praying for the Lost, Let-down, & Looking
accepting, not rejecting
quick to forgive, never to hold grudges
growing, not stalling.

Seriously, North America has too many cul-de-sacs for the Kingdom.  I'm more interested in pouring my life into a movement of earth-shaking, Jesus-declaring, love-preparing, Carpenter-King followers.

The Church is not supposed to be a museum to the past; it is to always be a forger of the future.   

If I want to join a country club, I'll join a country club.   What makes us different from the YMCA or yacht club is that we have a mission entrusted to us by the Master Himself.

The Church of Jesus Christ is a movement that echoes back to a point in time 2,000 years ago in the Middle East.  Movements multiply.  Untamed.  Unleashed.  Unparalleled.

Changed lives are in its wake - transformed understandings of what "community" means are caused by the Church.  Rather than being a stagnant, we've-always-done-it-this-way rut, the Church is to be bastion of authenticity, creativity, and cultural relevance.  Remember, it was Jesus who hung out at parties and shook up the temple system.

Movement.  That's what the Church could and should be.  Where is God moving in your neighborhood? 
Wherever it is, join that movement!

Tomorrow: Church Is... Monastic

Church Is... Messy

In January of 2006, 10 people gathered together in our living room to begin planning for a new way to do church in north-east Ohio: Catalyst.  From the beginning, I've always been vocal that Catalyst is not for everyone. We are not perfect. We are messy!  Seriously, as long as I'm the pastor, we will always be messy!

I've discovered that for many people, this principle is freeing.  The word "church" comes from "ecclesia," literally meaning "called out ones." The Church is the people who follow Jesus of Nazareth as their Master - the God-man.  Jesus is perfect.  And people are messy.  That makes the Church messy too.

Have you ever noticed how clean and sterile the white walls are of a dentist's office?  The creepy smell of germ-killer, the cold feel of sterilized instruments... the environment is designed to prevent things from growing, to keep the place from being messy.  Have you ever noticed the same can be true in North American church buildings?

I believe that messy people brought together will cause a mess.  A holy mess - something that God mysteriously redeems and uses for His missional & monastic purposes. 

In messy environments, things grow. 
If people enter a relaxed atmosphere that is authentic, creative, and relevant to where they're at spiritually, they can ease into the messiness with their own mess they brought with them. 

Life springs up.  Growth occurs.  The Kingdom expands.

The Church should be the place where you can feel like you belong before you believe.  It's not about conforming, the Church is about transforming.  That's how Jesus led His ministry - hanging out with messy people, accepting them with radical grace and forgiveness, helping them slowly transform into a holy people.

The Church is Messy.  Forgiven people who wrestle with sin.  Messy people who ask the Holy Spirit daily to clean their souls.  Messy.

And it's the God-ordained vehicle for sharing and declaring the hope of the world.

Tomorrow: Church Is... Movement

Church Is...

It happened again.

I came across a blog post from a young North American male punk who arrogantly painted all church communities with a broad stroke, labeling them "centers of hypocrisy that are not what Jesus had in mind" at best and "unnecessary and disposable" at worst.  As I read line after line about how we need to trumpet "community" and "discipleship," not "church," I felt a twinge.

Give me a break.

You cannot claim to love Christ and diss His Church. 
Seriously, true hypocrisy is loving the Husband but hating His wife.

Too many self-righteous young dudes are throwing stones against God's movement instead of truly asking what the Church is - what we could and should be.

So let's take a stab at it this week - let this blog be a safe-haven for dreamers and followers of the Carpenter-King.  Instead of making mud about what's wrong with the Church, let's take time this week to discover what the Church is and what the body of Christ could and should be in the 21st Century.  Are you game?

Tomorrow: Church Is... Messy

Recovering

Blog posts are slow this week as I recover from back surgery on Monday.  While I wander through loopy-med land, may I direct you to an important blog post from David Fairchild.  I met him last week at A29 and his thoughts on triperspectivalism (don't let that big word scare you) are brilliant.  It's helping me think through the ministry strengths and areas to improve upon at Catalyst heading into the fall...

God on Mute

Prayer - talking to God.  It's where the missional meets the monastic.  Let me explain:

God calls His followers into an outrageous mission - what C.S. Lewis called "a divine campaign of sabotage." Christ-followers are here to shake up the world with floodlights of shalom.  It's a 24/7 thing.  A mission from God (cue Blues Brothers music).  To be a Christian is to be missional.

And also monastic.  The inward, personal journey with the Spirit is integral.  Keeping our branches on the Vine - not easy, but necessary for survival in the mission.  Yes, I said "survival."  To be on mission is to be desperate for monastic prayer, knowing we're destined for failure unless God intervenes.    The Father wants us well-equipped... with Himself.

Prayer fuses the 2 together.  Our spirit is fed by the Spirit in prayer.  Prayer cleans us up, not necessarily with all the answers, but by dousing us with faith fuel.  Instead of being paralyzed by what we don't know, prayer unleashes the missional-monastic to dream bigger, hope stronger, and fearlessly move forward into the future with courage.

Obstacles on the horizon can seem huge... 
It could be a huge opportunity for our church plant that's completely out of our hands (Emily Powers and Perry Noble - thanks for standing beside me in prayer). 
It could be a stunning medical diagnosis that leaves our world spinning (join me in lifting up the McCoy family, eh?).

Sometimes it feels like we have God on mute.  But that's the way the Supernatural operates.  We don't walk by sight, remember?  What's seen is temporary; I want to live in the world of the unseen - that's where all the action is.  Sometimes becoming a mountain-mover means surviving some avalanches first.

And so we pray.  Retuning and refining the monastic.  Fueling the fire of the missional.  Advancing the Kingdom on our knees.

Tomorrow:  Giddy-up, Horse

On Lamenting

"Lamenting is more than a technique for venting emotion.  It is one of the fruits of a deepening spiritual life that has learned to stand naked before God without shame or pretence."
- Pete Greig

It's been a weird week.  Deaths and new births. 
Figuratively and literally.

As quickly as something dries up, new resources are infused.

A couple I love loses a child.
Another couple, same church family, welcomes a child.

Out-of-the-blue new opportunites present themselves. 
Death always precedes resurrection. 

"To pray is to confess not the abundance but the exhaustion of one's verbal, intellectual, and spiritual resources.  It is surrender..."
- Alan E. Lewis

I feel like the Spirit is teaching me to surrender more to the throne of Christ.  My natural tendency is to become consumed by that which I have no control over. 
I need to move from the natural to the supernatural.  I need to become consumed by Him who has control over everything.

"History is lubricated by tears.  Prayer, maybe most prayer, is accompanied by tears.  All these tears are gathered up and absorbed in the tears of Jesus." - Eugene Peterson

//shift

"God is not a kindly old uncle; He is an earthquake."
- ancient Hebrew saying

I love that - He's not fuddy-duddy grandpa from Willy Wonka; God is tremendously able - over-powering - as He leads the unstoppable force known as the Church. 

"An earthquake can shift things that a kindly old uncle can only smile at." - Pete Greig

Notes for my soul

Everyone was raving about our guest teacher at Catalyst yesterday - Jeff Miller.  I told you he's scary smart.  Jeff took his time walking us through Mark 6.30-44, Mark 8.1-10, and 14-21.  Holy cow - it was like getting hit square in the forehead with the Holy 2x4. 

Over breakfast today (a perk of having a home office), Amber asked me what I took away from Jeff's talk (since he hit so many levels of the text).  Here's some of what stirred my soul...

- Panic or Prayer?  In Mark 6.37, the disciples panic.  The odds are overwhelming.  The immediate cost of taking care of thousands would be a paycheck equaling 200 hundred days of work.  In a church plant situation, we're always facing new odds and difficulties.  Why is it we go into panic-mode (disciples) instead of prayer-mode (Jesus)?

- Jesus is the Son of God.  Yet He was desperate for prayer time.  I am not the Son of God.  Shouldn't I be even more desperate for prayer time?

- In Mark 8, we find the disciples repeating past mistakes given the same situation a few months later.  Do we not yet understand?

- Look at Mark 8.8.  It is only when something is broken that God creates an abundance.

- Jeff said that since we're a church plant, we're in a season of desperation.  If Jesus doesn't intervene, we're destined for failure.  Then he told us to never lose that sense of desperation.  For when a church begins to feel like they've got things under control, they no longer approach the Throne in brokeness.  And God only multiplies the broken, not the whole. 

- Jeff nailed me in Mark 8.14-21.  I am a Christian naturalist.  I claim to follow a supernatural God, yet I live my life with a naturalistic world-view.  Too often, wonder gives way to cynicism.  Do I not yet understand that I follow a supernatural Rabbi?

Herod's Tomb

Found.

:: love

"We must give our Lord our love or that love will go somewhere else. We are so created that we must love something or other." - Spurgeon

Limitless Resources

"He is the God of limitless resources - the only limit comes from us.  Our requests, our thoughts, and our prayers are too small, and our expectations are too low.  God is trying to raise our vision to a higher level, call us to have greater expectations, and thereby bring us to greater appropriations.  Shall we continue living in a way that mocks His will and denies His Word?" - A.B. Simpson commenting on Ephesians 3.20

Re-Read This

Sometimes a theological point comes at you with such depth that you have to re-read it and let the words sink in.  While studying today for this Sunday's talk on Questions for God: Virginia Tech, I came across this gem:

“If God were less than omnipotent, or if He allowed evil to develop and multiply itself in His own domain of creation without His prior decree and permission, and purpose, then He is not God, and cannot be God.  If evil there must be, let us be in the hands of God and not of chance, for if evil comes from outside the divine decree, otherwise than by the will of God, then there must be another god beside God.” 
-  Charles Alexander

From Monument to Movement

Great time was had by all at SEVENOSEVEN this past Sunday evening.  It was a priviledge to meet the 707 staff and serve alongside them.  They are doing some mighty things for the Kingdom.  You can download the message I gave on mp3 or watch Quicktime Video of the whole sha-bang.
* UPDATE: You can also download the Study Notes here.

Gospelcom picks up Solo Sex

Gospelcom.net (a network of 300+ Christian ministries), picked up my Solo Sex materials this week.  I'm thankful to my friend Adam McLane at Youth Ministry Exchange for originally approaching me about taking Catalyst's 'modern sexuality' message series and having his team re-edit a portion as a free resource.  It's exciting to hear that many are wrestling with the ancient scriptures in regards to lust and sanctification.  The original mp3's and study notes from the series (including my works cited) can be found on the Catalyst site.

Top 3... Pastors

New category to sporadically add here...  The Top 3 (blanks) that are influencing me at a single time.  May be helpful to friends, family, bloggers, and my mom.  Here we go.

The Top 3 Pastors that are speaking into my life with their messages at the moment:

1)  Ed Marcelle of Terra Nova Church in Troy, NY.  Podcast series on 1 Timothy.  Brilliant.  If you're unfamiliar w/Ed, here's video from last fall's Acts 29 Boot Camp that introduces Ed to you all.

2)  Matt Chandler of The Village in Double Oak, Texas.  Series on their vision.  Matt brought down the house in this video from last spring's Reform & Resurge Conference.

3)  Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.  He brought it with Ruth, now he's nailing it with Nehemiah. 

61 Years

John Piper posted a powerful journal entry today chronicling his father's death on Tuesday.  Amazing.  This is what brought a tear to my eye:

Thank you, Daddy. Thank you for sixty-one years of faithfulness to me. I am simply looking into his face now. Thank you. You were a good father. You never put me down. Discipline, yes. Spankings, yes. But you never scorned me. You never treated me with contempt. You never spoke of my future with hopelessness in your voice. You believed God’s hand was on me. You approved of my ministry. You prayed for me. Everyday. That may be the biggest change in these new days: Daddy is no longer praying for me.

Listening

Finished Robert Webber's Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, where 5 emerging pastor-theologians articulate (except Pagitt who never answers the 3 simple questions) where they stand on the Trinity, atonement of Jesus, and authority of the Scriptures.  Webber's intro and outro are excellent summaries of where the emerging trend started and is headed.
Of the 5 contributors, my fast reactions are:
Mark Driscoll - Rich chapter.  Spot on.  This is where Catalyst is at.
John Burke - Love his heart.
Dan Kimball - "Transformation," yes.
Doug Pagitt - Heretic.  *UPDATED: Ok, allow me to soften the blow from the Comments section... In his chapter, Doug embraces Pelagius' teachings, who was denounced as a heretic for denying human sinfulness in AD 418 by the Council at Carthage (p.145).  Doug also holds that doctrine and practice are both always changing, which by definition is living heresy (p.147).  But he does seem like a really, really nice guy.  It would be fun to do dinner sometime (Andy's buying).
Karen Ward - Who are you again?

Legacy of a Catalyst

Normally I don't highlight Sunday messages here, but for those who call Catalyst home or those who are closely watching our 6-month-old church plant, our current series on the book of Titus is turning out to be a defining one for our future and worth a look at. 
Emily Powers blogged about part one (I'm always interested in what people take away from messages) - audio available here.  Additional Study Notes (including Works Cited) are also now online.

Don't Waste Your Life

It's John Piper meets Nooma.  2 minute iTunes Vodcasts.  Free.  Go get 'em.

::failure

"Failure doesn't mean God is not with you. Sometimes God makes you fail; for the stuff of victory comes out of failure."
- Erwin McManus

Driscoll Associated Press Story

The Associated Press released the news story,  Megachurch Closed to Biblical No-Nos, Open to Others, today to media outlets world-wide about Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Mark Driscoll (pictured left) founded the Acts 29 Network, of which Catalyst is a member.  Helpful article for people checking out Catalyst. 
BTW - the mentioned 'Ruth' series is an excellent view at Biblical courtship and relationships - video & audio is over on the Mars Hill site for free.

Oprah

Whoah - was just flipping through channels on my day off and caught 'Oprah'...  Just in time to watch her deny historic Christianity in front of millions of viewers and advocate for the energies within. 

She's advocating "The Secret" - appeared to be Gnosticism-repackaged in New Age terms.  She supported her guest when he said (I typed as fast as I heard the words): "Jesus the Christ taught that the Kingdom of God is within, not outside.  Isn't it possible that the Kingdom of Hell is also within?  That whatever we speak becomes reality?"   

Wow.  Did anyone else see this?  Seriously scary stuff...

>>>FridayRewind

It's been a crazy-busy week of blizzards and fundraising and strategic planning for Catalyst, but here's a few things I picked up along the way...

DRIVEN: Met with Kary Oberbrunner of this summer's Driven Conference - nice guy.  I was asked to lead a break-out session on, "How Not to Launch a New Church," but I'm unsure with the timing (a few days after this conference Amber & I fly out to San Francisco with Acts 29).  Anyhow, if you're interested in missionally reaching the postmodern, you may be interested in Driven.

SHOUT-OUTS: Thanks Emily & Adam!

TO QUOTE 1: Maya Angelou on Christians...
When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not shouting “I’m clean livin’.”
I’m whispering “I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.”

When I say… “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
[ via Jason Boucher ]

ANDY: My friend Andy Sikora from 707 is guest teaching at Catalyst this Sunday/10:30am at The Kent Stage.  It will be a jolly good time.

TO QUOTE 2:  “These places of worship are not built that you may sit here comfortably, and hear something that shall make you pass away your Sundays with pleasure. A church in London which does not exist to do good in the slums, and dens, and kennels of the city, is a church that has no reason to justify its longer existing. A church that does not exist to reclaim heathenism, to fight with evil, to destroy error, to put down falsehood, a church that does not exist to take the side of the poor, to denounce injustice and to hold up righteousness, is a church that has no right to be. Not for thyself, O church, dost thou exist, any more than Christ existed for himself. His glory was that he laid aside his glory. . . . . To rescue souls from hell and lead to God, to hope, to heaven, this is [the church’s] heavenly occupation. O that the church would always feel this!”                                                 - Charles Spurgeon [ via Kaleo Church ]

solo sex: love wins

When you approach the doorway to Catalyst on Sunday mornings, it's impossible to miss the large outdoor signs welcoming you in: "love wins."  This simple message that sums up the person and works of Jesus of Nazareth is on the lips of Catalyst's volunteers, on t-shirts being worn by workers, and reinforced by the authentic, creative, and relevant messages presented.

Love wins.  What a freeing idea.  And it was conceived by a God who created us.  In the beginning of the Bible, we see a loving God who creates everything, and the climax of creation is humanity.  Relationships, not religious rules, are the motivation of God's heart.  A perfect Eden is the landscape, and sexual union within marriage is the norm.

The story we are in takes a tragic twist when humanity embraces sin instead of God's agenda.  Brokeness, sickness, and darkness are the result.  We are sinful creatures rebelling against our Creator.  Note that I said "We," not just "You." Yes, I am a pastor, but if I'm honest, I have to admit I'm broken.  Messy.  Things are not the way they should be.  I rebel against God.  I am responsible for my sinfulness. And I deserve to pay a penalty.

A just and holy God demands payment for our sinfulness - the penalty is death.  Yes, I'm a pastor.  Yes, I am messy and sinful.  Yes, I deserve eternal death.  And so do you.  That's the bad news.  Lust, porn, selfish sex - there's a penalty.

Here's the good news - God is also loving.  Sacrificially loving.  The penalty has to be paid, yes, but He offers to swap spots with us. 

Jesus is God in human flesh.  He lived a perfect, sinless life two thousand years ago in the Middle East.  And His love for us is so extravagant, so overwhelming, that He willingly sacrificed Himself to save us from ourselves.  Jesus died.  God died.  That act of selfless love - the Creator dying for the creation - satisfied the penalty. 

Here's the kicker - 3 days later, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead (Easter Sunday at Catalyst we'll actually explore the literal, historical and scientific evidence that points to this!).  The debt was paid, and He overcame death to usher in life. 

Where does Jesus rise from the dead?  A garden tomb.  A second Eden.  Jesus is on a mission to restore, reclaim, redeem that which is broken.  The first Adam brought death and sin, the second Adam brings life and shalom.  Love wins. 

So here's the deal - you are not created to live a life of guilt or shame or hurt over past sexual sin.  The point is not to make you feel bad about yourself... the point is to expose your brokeness.  To admit your failures.  To express your need for Someone to forgive you and lead you.

Have you ever been to a church and heard a preacher ask, "Is Jesus your Lord and Savior?"  I never understood those words.  "Lord and Savior."  It sounded so, I don't know, cutting-edge-1600's or something.

But after a careful and honest look at the ancient Scriptures, I've come to understand that what those preachers are asking is this: "Have you realized you are broken and need a Forgiver?  Isn't it time you stopped chasing your own screwed up agenda and instead embraced God's agenda - to let Jesus be your Leader?"

If that's you, then celebrate!  You've made a huge spiritual step forward in realizing not just how messed up you and I are, but also the need for Jesus to swap spots with us.  His perfect and righteous life for our broken and sinful life.  His shalom for our anti-shalom.  His agenda for our agenda.  His tender, restoring hand recycling our sex life back to the way He intended it to be.

I love how in Romans chapter 8 it says that if anyone is a follower of Christ - a genuine, heart-driven follower of Jesus - that they are no longer under condemnation.  Guilt and shame for past mistakes are wiped away for eternity.  That's the promise of God through His forgiveness.  Love wins.

Ask God to forgive you.  Accept Jesus as your Leader.  Open your eyes to a fresh new life.  You cannot change the past, you can only create the future.  And Jesus will lead the way.

solo sex: the big 'm'

:: AN HONEST AND MATURE CONVERSATION...

As we continue our blog series, it's audience participation time!
Grab a Bible, open to the Old Testament, and look for a book called Ezekiel.
Look at chapter 16, verses 25-27.
Done?  Now go to chapter 23, verses 18-21.

Wow - powerful images, huh?  That's God calling His people out on the carpet!  The religious folks are screwing around and God basically says that the Christians are acting like prostitutes in a Mardi Gras parade.

Why does God use such raw, frank language with His people (the ones who are supposed to be lights in darkness)?  Because He wants us to feel the sickness of sexual sin without anesthesia.

If we're totally honest in this continuing discussion on lust, the purpose of pornography (see yesterday's post) is masturbation. Solo sex is self-pleasing oneself outside of being with your marri