Please,... not too much of Jesus!

This global economic crisis is possibly serving as a very good litmus test gauging the depth and sincerity of countless Christian's living in America. In fact, it's ironic that our currency continues to proclaim, "In God We Trust" – Oh, really?

Last year our dear friends, Greg and Alba Perkins gave me a copy of the book "Good to Great in God's Eyes", by Chip Ingram. Great read! I highly recommend it. – I've been recently going through my second reading and was recaptured with his comments as he wrote, "The Dream Will Cost Your Life". As I re-read the section several times I thought this could be a tremendous encouragement to a wonderful bunch of people, (that would be you) that we love and care for deeply. - This crisis facing our nation can actually be one of the greatest opportunities for us, the church, to show ourselves strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. – Are you ready to receive a different dream? – Enjoy Chip's comments.

"The Dream Will Cost Your Life"

Imagine how futile and ridiculous the ministry of Jesus looked as he hung on the cross – a preacher who didn't exactly find success; a miracle worker who suddenly couldn't work a miracle; a loser of epic proportions. But Jesus had said that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single seed. If it dies, however, it brings forth much fruit (John 12:24). The dream, it seems, will cost us our life.

This is one reason that most of us don't want God's dream. The dream will cost us our life and appear to others as the height of folly just before God accomplishes the impossible through us. There will be a time in the process of God fulfilling his dream placed in your heart when he will take you all the way to the edge, and you must die. (Sound familiar?)

Every dream passes through the cross. Every dream takes you to where you let go of everything and everyone, every agenda and expectation, and then it is only as the Lord resurrects you and your dream that you can go on.

We spend much of our time and energy trying to avoid that place. We want just enough of Jesus to make us happy, just enough to give us peace, and just enough to make things go our way to fulfill our dreams and our agenda. Meanwhile, he wants to take us to the cross, where our own selfish dreams, egos, and plans for "great accomplishments" have to die. The cross brings you to a place of total and absolute surrender to all you have and all you are. You submit everything in obedience to the vision or dream God has given you for your life.

Scripture and history are replete with examples: Martin Luther and other early Reformers refused to recant their convictions even when their lives were at stake. In the early days of modern missions, missionaries packed their belongings in a coffin because the likelihood of returning to their homeland alive was very slim. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood for truth (and died for it) in Nazi Germany, said that "when God calls a man, he bids him come and die." Embracing God-given dreams means sacrificing the self-inspired dreams, and that's usually a painful exchange. But the benefits always outweigh the costs.

There can be no resurrection without death. It isn't fun, but it's necessary. If you don't die to yourself, then you'll operate out of your natural talents and gifts, and you'll gladly receive the praise for being smart, savvy, and hyperspiritual. That's not the goal. The goal is that God be glorified in your life by doing something impossible through someone improbable like you.

You don’t know either… do you?

Sometimes I am perplexed and even a little unsure concerning the tons of stuff being written about how to be a strong and effective leader; apparently being led by the Spirit isn't good enough. – As I was doing my daily devotions this morning in Acts chapter 10, I was continuing my observations on Peter's experience with the sheet like thing, bound at the four corners, floating down to earth with all kinds of four-footed animals, wild beasts, creeping things and birds of the air that were in it (I wonder when it says "wild beasts" did that include a big hairy gorilla?).

I found it really interesting that verse 19-20 says, "While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." – I was really happy to learn that just like me, Peter didn't have a clue what was going on. As he stood on the roof of the house trying to figure out what this weird vision meant, unknowing to him God was causing the vision to unfold underneath him as the three men sent by Cornelius were literally knocking on the front door. Peter didn't have a clue what was going on! – Ha! Ha! Ha! … That is hilarious to me! Here we have one of the greatest leaders in the history of our New Testament, and he hadn't figured it all out yet. How come no one writes a book about this kind of leadership?

Apparently from at least God's point of view, for Peter to be an effective leader:

a) It was not a prerequisite or requirement for Peter to have figured it all out. God was somehow in control of the situation regardless how little Peter understood at the moment.

b) God's sovereign plan called for Peter to figure this out one step at time. That's probably because like many of us, it would have been a disaster for Peter to have received a complete blueprint of where the Lord was heading with this vision. Knowing Peter's personality had he a set of blueprints he was way good to go. See ya!

c) It was going to be necessary for Peter to be well outside his cultural and social box to understand this vision. Verse 14 exposes the religious-social box Peter was already in when he replied concerning the vision, "Not so, Lord! For I have never and will never eat anything common or unclean!" – God was doing something new, but Peter needed to be ready to abandon the traditions and norms he had forever embraced.

d) He was going to learn how to be ok with being "surprised" by what the Lord may at any time require.

e) He only needed to "go with the flow" of the Holy Spirit, especially when in verse 20 he was told, "So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." - He was not being asked in the moment whether or not he understood; he was given a set of instructions to engage with faith and obedience.

Now here's my application to us; many believe that just like this moment in history when God was preparing to do something profound in Peter's world, we are once again at a significant moment where God is about to blow our minds with a supernatural change of direction for the church. Something is about to happen, many people will agree on that point. But I am wondering about today's "leaders" and heads of denominations; are we willing to move forward not knowing what's going to happen next? We've got so many organizations with high-tech models and finely tuned strategies for "church" growth, why do we need to bother the Lord? After all we have the benefit of church history to our advantage. Thanks to modern technology we've been able to analyze all of the data and figure it all out. Unlike Peter in verse 20, we have no doubts about where we're going.

Uhhhh, personally I don't know if I'm good with that. As a "leader" I don't always feel so smart, and certainly there is more that I don't know than what I do know. There's no doubt that the Lord has spoken to me in dreams and visions; that's not the issue. Whether or not I'm supposed to figure it all out first in order to be qualified as a leader is more the issue. In other words, can I as a "leader" continue to move forward not knowing everything that people think I should know? – History shows that Peter was an effective leader, not because he had figured everything out, but because he was able to be led by the Holy Spirit who, believe it or not already had a complete plan in place. The issue was whether or not Peter was going to flow with it. – How are you flowing as a "leader"? Come on, be honest with me… you don't really have a clue either, do you? – Ha! Ha! Ha!

"Who told you to stop and pray?" - signed God

Do you ever wonder why we are often described as sheep? It is definitely not the most flattering of terms to describe “believers”, but I suppose if it’s what God chose… then it must somehow fit.

Here’s the story: Moses had just convinced millions of Israelites to flee Egypt and within a very short distance, they walk up against a dead end road. Literally, they end up pressed against the wet Red Sea with nowhere to go. You know the story… they immediately start their belly aching and murmuring (probably more like cussing) accusing Moses for misleading them into what they so firmly believed was a “dead end road”. Haha! Isn’t that just like God? – How many times have you started out in what you thought was faith and obedience and almost immediately got parked in what felt like a “dead end road”. And true to human nature, we all start with the belly-aching, complaining and the murmuring routine.

Now, the reason I’m writing this is to ask this question: “Have you ever considered how the Lord repeatedly brings us into ‘dead end roads’?” Has it ever crossed your spiritual mind that just maybe God brings us to what we perceive are “dead end roads” on purpose? – Think about it. Didn't God do it again at the end of their 40-year camping trip through the desert? Just because they didn’t learn the lesson the first time, the Lord brought them back to a “dead end road”. This time Joshua was the leader and immediately walked them straight to the Jordan River....... at flood stage! Humanly speaking it would have been impossible for them to cross without a miracle.

Anyway, let’s return to what God said to Moses when he started crying out like the faithless Israelites – pay attention because I think this reveals God’s sense of humor. Notice what he said to Moses; (Exodus 14:15-16) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! (Essentially God said something like this; “Moses, who told you to stop going and pray to me?”) v16 Use your shepherd's staff – hold it out over the water, and a path will open up before you through the sea. Then all the people of Israel will walk through on dry ground.

Can you imagine the sight? I think this is really funny and very applicable to our lives as “sheep”. The Lord uses a leader to finally get us up and moving on a tremendous journey of faith and obedience. But then comes the first “dead end road” and were ready to kill the leader. “That stupid leader! How in the world did he convince us to do something so ridiculous? Why just look at that obstacle! We’re all gonna die just like the dream-killers said we would.” – “I’m turning back before it’s too late!” ----- We all know the drill!

Anyway, what I think is really funny (actually more sad than funny), is how so many people end up acting like they’re praying and stuff, when God is asking them, “Who told you to stop going and pray to Me?” – it may look spiritual and all good to family and friends, but the Lord is not impressed, especially when He already told you what to do and where to go. We’ve got to get clued in that He is going to almost always bring us to a “dead end road”… Why? – Now that there is an intelligent question for a sheep. If you paid attention to the stories in Sunday school, God is always planning to show Himself strong on our behalf. Like our Daddy in Heaven, He wants to show off in front of us so that we will always trust Him and confidently move forward regardless the obstacle or what looks like a dead end road. All He’s asking us to do is to NOT stop moving forward, but in spite of our fear, grab faith, obedience and a determination to trust Him completely by keep moving.

So the moral of the story is this; if you heard the Lord tell you to get out of whatever “Egypt” you’re in (home included), then get moving and don’t look back. At the first sign of a “dead end road” start worshipping instead of cussing. Whatever you do, don’t stop and definitely don’t close your eyes and start praying, because the Lord isn’t going to be happy about that… and what He may say to you may not be as funny as what He said to Moses. As for me, well I’m going to try walking on water.

Love,
PR -