Take a Vacation

/7 Comments/in , , , , , /by

I didn’t take a vacation for three years after coming to restart Valley Baptist Church.  I have no regrets for this.  I think there are seasons when sacrifice is required, but in year three I traveled a great deal.  I missed two Sundays traveling to Mongolia to visit missionaries in May, two weeks vacation in Lake Tahoe in July, and then two weeks visiting Israel for personal enrichment in September.  I almost never miss Sundays at Valley Baptist Church because I feel it is important for me to be there as the leader of the church, but in 2010 I missed 6 weeks and it helped the church regardless of my concerns!

Today, as you read this, I am in Spain preparing to come home after a two week vacation in Spain and detour trip to Italy to meet with a missionary from the church.

Here are some benefits to getting away:

1.  It allows the leaders to step up and run things while you are gone.  In the early years the planter does just about everything and it is hard to step back and delegate.  Leaving creates a real need that must be filled, or in other words it forces you to delegate things you do.  In this process, you will discover things you should not do as the leader.  After three years I had a solid team in place that could run things seamlessly without me.  I am not the linchpin at the church, going away proved it.  I believe my leaving allowed the church to mature even more.  I have found great liberation in learning that I am just a part of the body…not many parts of the body that keep it alive.

2.  It refreshes your soul.  There is something about disengaging from the daily grind that helps re-energize my passion for the ministry and zeal for preaching that is zapped through 52 weeks of preaching and ministering to the flock.  Getting away and restoring your soul does wonders for your ability to preach and teach with passion.  I believe getting away will help me stay in this battle for years to come.  I don’t want to become a statistic of the many pastors who burn out or crash and burn along the journey.

3.  Enjoying the family exclusively comes in these getaways.  I want to enjoy my family daily and to make memories that will stick with my kids for their lifetime.  Vacations are wonder ways to shut off the world and to focus on your own family exclusively for a few weeks.  I also love traveling overseas and meeting with missionaries.   I long to expose my two girls (ages 5 and 2) to the work that God is doing around the world.  So many Christians have such a narrow view of how God is working (i.e.  Republican United States…) Man, at the time of writing, I have two week till we fly out for vacation.  I can’t wait.

I can’t encourage you enough.  You must take time off for a vacation on a regular basis it will do wonders for you and the body you minister to!  Sorry if this is short, brief, or broken in thought…I have that “last day of school feeling” as I prepare for vacation!

Clarity Produces Confidence

/6 Comments/in , , , , , /by

Dear Everyone,

This is long … perhaps you’ll think it worth it to bear with me.

I want to spend some time talking about a phrase which has found its way into my mind and heart the past several weeks and even months. Here it is: “Clarity produces confidence.”

The meaning of the phrase (as I’ve internalized it) is that when we hear and receive the specific direction of the Lord in our lives—His guidance—the result is confidence. We’re confident because we’ve been commanded or directed by God Himself. The One who has called and guided us will also provide whatever is needed to obey and follow through with His direction. When we clearly hear His voice, then we know what to trust Him for. We can bank on His faithfulness to complete the work He has begun in us.

This concept—this phrase—is one that I’ve experienced many times over the years. When we first moved to Monterey, I believed strongly that the Lord was going to further expand the pastoral and teaching call upon my life. How did I know that? There was a dream, there were prophetic visions, there was the Word of God spoken into my heart on several occasions, and there was the confirmation of leaders and other believers we’d known in Southern California. It was crystal clear what the Lord was calling me to do. Therefore, I had the confidence to begin pastoring a church at the tender age of 25 (soon to be 26, mind you). Clarity produces confidence.

I can point to a huge number of other examples in my own life which illustrate the phrase, “Clarity produces confidence.” Some of them have to do with my marriage, some have to do with personal decisions (such as financial decisions), most of them with the myriad of decisions related to a life of ministry. But whatever the kind of situation, whenever I was certain that I was in the will of God, I was then able to rely upon Him for the commitment, strength, wisdom, or resources necessary to follow through. Clarity brought confidence. It still does.

I remember one particular incident that stands out. It happened very early in my ministry as senior pastor of Calvary Chapel in Monterey, where I served for 27 years. Sensing the leading of the Lord, we invited a very well known speaker/author/teacher to come and lead a four day evening seminar for us. We would hold it in a neutral facility and invite the entire community to come. Well, the speaker accepted our invitation and then referred me to his secretary to work out the logistics. It was then that I was informed that his honoraria would be an astonishing $500.00 per lecture! Not much money now, but back in 1979, it was a lot.

I was shocked. We Calvary guys prided ourselves on the “where God guides, God provides” philosophy. We would never ask for money, and we would never require a set honorarium for our services. So this amount of $500.00 seemed outrageous to me. Besides that, the church’s entire monthly budget at that time was around $1800, if I remember correctly. So the four days would exceed our entire monthly expenditures, and that didn’t include travel costs, hotel costs, printing, mailing, or other forms of publicity!

I was bummed. Not only was I bummed, I was disillusioned. How could this be? I thought this man was a godly leader. How could he charge so much? I didn’t know what to do. So I prayed (VERY good strategy). As I prayed and honestly poured out my heart to the Lord, the Lord used a verse of scripture that He caused to pop into my head (this is called “rhema”—Ephesians 6:17). The verse was Romans 14:4: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

What a blessing! The Lord was speaking clearly to me that He is the One that called and appointed this brother as His servant. He was answerable to Him. I needn’t worry about a thing, I sensed the Lord speaking to me. The Lord had it under His complete control Therefore, I didn’t need to think poorly of this man, I could entrust him completely to the Lord!

I was excited, and relieved. Now I knew I could trust the Lord for the finances needed to pull off the event, and for His blessing upon it.

And yes, it all went great! In the process, I got to know this minister and found him to be a prince of a man. He was the real deal. Plus, he liked me. He was also very supportive of me and what we were trying to do.

Here’s a cool thing … when the love offerings were counted at the end of the four nights, we found that the proceeds were $10.00 more than all of our expenses combined. The Lord had truly provided, and it didn’t bankrupt the church. I was stoked. Again, clarity (hearing from the Lord) produced confidence… confidence to trust the Lord and step out in His name.

Sad to say, I have not always operated like that. Looking back on my 26 years and 50 weeks in Monterey, I would say that most of what was done was done with the clear direction of the Lord, but in the last few years, I erred in that I failed to wait for the Lord in some key decisions.

Why did I not wait upon God? What was it? Why was it? Was it arrogance? Was it self-sufficiency? Was it assumption on my part? Probably a little bit of all of them. At any rate, I blew it. One major decision gone bad affected another one, until things got so messy that I ended up causing many to become frustrated and hurt, the very people I love and served with.

I had no clarity as I made those decisions, and therefore I had no confidence. One respected pastor I know, after I told him about some of the things that happened over the previous months, said to me, “It sounds to me like you lost your confidence.” Bingo! He hit the nail right on the head. It was so true… I HAD lost my confidence as a leader, as a pastor. That was new for me, because I’d operated in confidence for so many years. After he said that, it then became my quest to discover what happened. How did I lose it? The conclusion the Lord has helped me realize is that I was operating without clarity. I had not heard His voice, because I had not waited for Him.

I have been severely chastened by the Lord for all of this, and I hope I have learned my lesson. I am determined—with the Lord’s help—never to launch out into anything again without clarity which produces confidence. I don’t want to be like Joshua with the Gibeonites, or like Abraham with Hagar. I want to do what the Lord says, nothing more, nothing less. But first, I want to spend the time to determine what that is. No shortcuts.

To that end, the Lord has been kind enough to point me to an amazing passage in 1 Samuel which tells my story. Actually, it’s the story of David, but it fits my situation too.

David had been relentlessly pursued by Saul, who wanted to kill him. Previously, Samuel the prophet had anointed David as king over all Israel, but Saul was still on the throne. The Lord had said that He was going to remove Saul from the kingdom and give it to David. But David was apparently tired and wearied from Saul’s persecution of him. He got discouraged, and he forgot (at least emotionally) the Lord’s promises to him re: the kingdom. So given that as a background, we read David’s words:

And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” (1 Samuel 27:1)

Notice that David was talking to himself. This is a good thing, if we’re talking truth to ourselves. But in this situation, David’s self talk was inaccurate. No, he would not perish by Saul’s hand. Because his premise was inaccurate, his solution would also be wrong. It was absolutely the wrong thing to escape to the Philistine’s land. He would put himself in a compromised situation. While it seemed logical that this move might discourage Saul from continuing to hunt him down, the way that seems right to us isn’t necessarily right. David had not heard from the Lord at this time, therefore he lost his confidence in the Lord. His lack of clarity brought discouragement.

The story goes on to tell what happened to David. He became affiliated with a Philistine lord named Achish. He lied to Achish about what he was really doing in the land. Achish eventually wanted David to join the Philistines in battle against Israel! Think of it… David attacking Israel. No way! Fortunately, the other Philistine lords (kings) refused to let David and his men fight with them. They thought he might betray them in battle. After all, this was the same David that killed Goliath, their champion.

But while David was passing in review before the Philistines, the Amalekites were destroying the Philistine city (Ziklag) where David, his men, and their wives had been living. When he and his men returned to Ziklag, they found it burned to the ground, and discovered that much spoil AND their wives had been taken away by the Amalekites. The next passage absolutely thrills my heart. It’s what I’ve been doing myself for months now:

1 Samuel 30:6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

Don’t you just love that? David went right to the Lord, and found a way to receive strength from Him! No doubt he did it through prayer, in the Word, and in worship, but he did it! He was in a tight spot; trouble was around him on every side, so he went straight to the Lord. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. He would wait upon God.

The next thing he did was also telling. He sought the Lord re: the Amalekites and at Yahweh’s direction, he went straight into battle against them. In other words, now that he had clarity (having strengthened himself in the Lord and having consulted Him about attacking the Amalekites), it was time to go to war. Time to fight the enemy. No more sulking, no feeling sorry for himself, no living in the past. It was time to move forward.

The Lord granted David success. He was able, with his four hundred men, to rout the Amalekites and recover everything they’d taken from him.

I can’t tell you how much that entire story speaks to me. God is good! He speaks to us! He gives us marching orders. He frees us from our past. After the discipline is over with, it yields the “peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Clarity produces confidence. I hope I never forget it.

“Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” (Psalms 25:4-5)

Thanks for reading.

Bill Holdridge

Biblical Meditation and Spiritual Blessing

/2 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

BIBLICAL MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL BLESSING

Psalm 1: 1-2 “(1) Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.

Spurgeon Insight: “He delights to be in it (the Law) as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day and think upon it by night.”[1


Two Sources of Influence

This Psalm is about two different types of counsel by which a person can live, and the practical results a person can experience from following one or the other.  On the one hand the Psalm warns against living life by the counsel of the ungodly, those who don’t live by God’s wisdom and have a right relationship with Him.  On the other hand the Psalm graphically describes the blessed life a person will enjoy if they turn to God’s law for counsel which is found in God’s Word, the Bible.


The Subtle Key to Blessing

I have often read this Psalm and took encouragement from it to keep studying the Bible as my guide in life decisions.  Reading it over today it stands out to me that being blessed through God’s Word involves a lot more than studying the Bible.  The Psalmist doesn’t say that the person who merely reads or studies the Bible will be blessed.  He says that it is the person who “delight(s)” and “meditates” on the Law of the LORD who will be blessed.  Delighting in God’s Word speaks of taking pleasure in it.  Meditating on God’s Word isn’t just reading it, but chewing on it mentally, and I believe, praying over what is found in God’s Word.


Delight = Spiritual Nourishment

So the big application for me is not to stop short with mere Bible reading and expect to be transformed by the Word.  I must delight in God’s Word and meditate on God’s Word.  Only then will I be the blessed and transformed person glorifying God that this Psalm describes.  The ability to do either of these things will take the grace and enabling of the Holy Spirit.  Pray with me…

Lord, we pray right now that you would increase delight for your word inside our spirits.  Increase our capacity to enjoy it through meditation.  Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak.  By Your grace and Spirit accomplish these things in us so we can live the transformed and blessed life You desire to produce in, and through us.

[1] Spurgeon. Charles. The Crossway Classic Commentaries. Psalms. Page 2.

Note- The above post is taken from “Lift: a Devotional Journey through Selected Psalms” By Kellen Criswell

Inexplicable God

/4 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , /by

One of the most mind-bending and yet rewarding things we can do is meditate on the trinitarian nature of God.  While not all agree, the Trinity, or Triune nature of God, is a reality most definitely affirmed by the teaching of Scripture.   The biblical testimony portrays God as existing as three separate persons who all equally share one divine essence.  These persons have revealed themselves as God the Father, Jesus (who is God the Son), and God the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

 

The Bible and the Nature of God

The biblical teaching on the nature of God can be summarized as follows:

1. The Father is God (Jn. 6:27)

2. The Son is God (Jn. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:7-8; Col. 1:13-17)

3. The Spirit is God (Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4; Ps. 104:30; Acts 5:3-4; Acts 13:1-4)

4. There is only One God (Deut. 6:4; Mk. 12:32; Rom. 3:30; 1 Cor. 8:6)

5. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are NOT each other (Matt. 3:16-17; Jn. 1:1-3 & 18; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14)

 

What Does the Biblical Data Mean?

The Bible clearly teaches each of the above five realities regarding the nature of the One true God.  There is only One God. He exists in the three Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each of the three are divine, and they are not One another.   They are not three separate God’s.  They are not one divine Person portraying Himself three separate ways.  They are three literally distinct Persons unified by one divine essence.

 

Um, Can You Explain that Please?

Usually this is the point that our brain starts to hurt.  As we try to stretch our finite minds to the point where we can wrap our proverbial arms around the awesome and infinite reality of God’s nature, feelings of futility and inadequacy soon follow.  While we can certainly apprehend the biblical teaching regarding the Triune nature of God, we cannot fully comprehend it in it’s fullness.

 

How ’bout an Illustration?

The truth is that we cannot even adequately illustrate the Trinity.  Many have tried to do so, and I personally believe they have done so in vain.  Even the closest illustrations fall short at the end of the day.  Let me point out the most common illustrations people set forth in attempt to better understand or articulate the reality of the Trinity:

 

1. The Clover- Some say that to illustrate the nature of God to the people he was trying to reach in Ireland, Saint Patrick would point to the three-leaf-clover.  He would suggest that the nature of God is like a clover that, while being one entity, has the three parts in the leaves which ultimately all connect as one.

2. The Egg- Some suggest that the fact that an egg has three parts (yoke, white, and shell) while still being one egg can serve as an illustration of the Trinity.

3. The Water- Others point to water which can exist in three forms (gas, solid, liquid) as an illustration of the Trinity.

4. The Family- Still others would point to the family as a potential illustration of the Trinity.  Admittedly this is my personal favorite.  These folks point out that, biblically speaking, men and women become one flesh through marriage and sexual relations.  When parents reproduce and have a child, the child genetically proceeds forth from the essence of both the father and mother who are one flesh through marriage.  In the end, it is contended that this illustrates the Trinity in that the human father, mother, and child are all three separate persons and yet one in a legitimate sense.

 

The truth is all of these illustrations fall short for various reasons.  And while helpful for lifting our minds to a perhaps good starting place as we begin to try and appreciate the complexity and beauty inherent within the Triune nature of God, none of these should serve as absolute pictures of the precise nature of God.

 

Reaction Time

When we get to this point in meditating on the Trinity, I have found people react in two ways depending on where they’re at with Jesus in their personal lives.  First of all, the skeptical non-Christian begins to mock.  They say, “If I can’t explain it, or find something of comparable nature to illustrate it, it must not be true.”  Secondly, the new or untaught Christian might begin to doubt.  They might find themselves thinking, “Can this be true if we cannot explain it?  Are the skeptics correct, and the Trinity is just another made-up human superstition?”

 

Answers for the Skeptic

In response to the skeptic I would say three things:

1. Either the Bible is God’s Word, or it isn’t.  Many who are in opposition to the doctrine of the Trinity also affirm the inspiration of the Bible.  Their are some religious groups who affirm the divine inspiration of the Bible, and yet because the Trinity doesn’t make sense to them logically, they reject it and come up with other translations of Scripture foreign to the original languages in which the Bible was written for the sake of supporting their view.  This is all done to justify making Scripture conform to their logic, rather than bringing their supposed logic into conformity with the plain meaning of Scripture.   At the end of the day either the Bible is God’s Word and must be accepted, or it’s not.  But you can’t have your cake and eat it too on this one.  If the Bible is God’s Word the Trinity is the only possibility based on the teaching of the whole counsel of God as summarized above.  Either the Bible is God’s Word or it’s not.

 

2. Don’t think more highly of your logic than you ought. Don’t you think it’s possible that there might be some things that are true about the infinite, sovereign Creator of the universe that are just a little difficult to wrap your much smaller, finite mind around?  Do you really think you’re so smart that you should be able to fully wrap up everything about the nature of God in a nice little intellectual package that is easy to understand and explain? Don’t think more highly of your logic than you ought.

 

3. Don’t be a hypocrite. The fact is that every skeptic who scoffs at the doctrine of the Trinity based on it’s incomparableness is a hypocrite.  They know that there are many things they affirm to be true though they can’t fully understand or explain them.  I know there are many things like that in my life.  There are things that I know are true, that are scientifically explainable, that I still can’t fully comprehend.  I know there are scientific explanations regarding how giant aircraft carriers made of steel, transporting thousands of people, planes, and supplies can float in the water, but it still doesn’t make sense to me.  I know science can explain why it is that a fly can float in the cab of my truck while I’m driving 75 down the freeway and not splat against my back window, even though I know that fly isn’t moving in the same direction as my vehicle, at the same speed.  And yet, if I were to stand up and jump in the air in the back of my truck going the same speed, I would be dead in the road.  How does all that work? I mean, is there a problem in the matrix, or what?  You can explain it to me scientifically, but it still won’t fully make sense.   I believe even the most ardent skeptics regarding the Trinity hold to many truths in their lives which they  apprehend and affirm while knowing they cannot fully explain or comprehend them.  The honest skeptic would agree.  Don’t be a hypocrite.

 

Answers for the Christian

For the new or untaught believer who is struggling with doubt over their inability to articulate, understand, or illustrate the Trinity, I would comfort you with the truth of Isaiah 40:18: “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?”  In short, the Bible itself declares the inexplicable nature of God!  We don’t need to worry about not being able to explain or illustrate what God has already told us is inexplicable and without illustration.  Part of being God is being absolutely unique amongst all other things in existence!  The reason you can’t point to an illustration and say, “That is what God is like,” is because He is altogether unique and incomparable in every single possible way!

 

At Refuge we like to say in regard to meditating upon the mysterious nature of our God that, “Logic can only take you so far before all you can do is stop and worship in awe!”    I hope this brief reflection on the inexplicable nature of the One True and Living God has inspired you to do that.  Let logic, reason, and understanding take you as far as it can.  And when you come to the end of that finite road, worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who together exist as our One True God!

From The Archives…

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , /by

“Ask what I shall give thee.” 1 Kings 3:5

 

These are the words of the Lord God of Israel to the third king of Israel, Solomon. And I take great great comfort in these words from God because they are so applicable to me today.

The context of God’s offer is an interesting one. At least ten (10) times, definitely more, does God’s word speak of the Lord establishing Solomon’s throne. (“Let God be true and every man a liar.” Romans 3:4).

Then, at the beginning of 1 Kings 3 we see Solomon breaking one of God’s laws for the king…he joins himself, and thereby the kingdom and people of the Lord, to Egypt, by marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. He then brings her to Jerusalem, but not until the temple of God is built (which is 7 years), and not until his palace is built (which takes 13 years), and not until the city of Jerusalem is walled in. Even if these events took place concurrently and were all accomplished within 13 years, in the midst of this activity something is strangely missing. And that missing component is the voice of God.

Why the long silence?

King Solomon has compromised. The result? Verse 2 of 1 Kings 3 begins thus, “Only the people sacrificed in high places.”

Only?

All those years before the temple was built the nation sacrificed in high place.

Verse 3 tells us, “And Solomon loved the Lord…only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.”

Only?

Verse 4 says “The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place…And the king made a ‘great’ sacrifice, as well. A thousand burnt offerings!”

And what happened to Solomon? Is he struck dead? Does he contract leprosy? No. Verse 5 tells us, tells me, that God came to Solomon.

“And God said, “Ask what I shall give thee.””

In the midst of compromise and sacrificing and burning incense on high places, the greatest of high places, God, in His mercy, appears to Solomon in a dream and says, “What do you want Me to give you, Solomon?”

What comfort! What encouragement! To know that God comes to me when it seems so long in not hearing His voice because of compromise. Just as He is stirring my heart this last week, He comes, through the Living Word, and asks me today, “Ask what I shall give thee.”

“Ask of Me, and I shall give the the heathen (the nations) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Psalm 2:8

“Call to Me, and I will answer thee, and shed thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3

“Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

“And he cried, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me…but he cried so much the more, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

“…He asked him, saying, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” Luke 18:38-41

He is asking me, He is asking you…

“Ask what I shall give thee.”

“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”

“Ask of Me…”

Call to Me…”

“Ask…”

“Seek…”

“Knock…”

“What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”

Flash in the Pan, not for Me!

/5 Comments/in , , , , , , , , /by

I am not a fan of the emphasis that seems to be encouraged, or rewarded in many church-planting circles today.  We love numbers…big numbers that is.  When they’re up–we rejoice.  When they’re down–we feel like incompetent failures.  We are encouraged to chase programs and events that draw a huge crowd.  I have seen many church-planters who get a huge flash in the pan with big numbers and they stick around between 1-3 years before moving on claiming they are “Paul’s” who plant and move on.  These types love numbers that show many people came, many professed, and many were dunked–regardless of how shallow any of these events were in reality.  Sorry if I seem critical, I know their are people who do this well, but I just don’t think this is a model we should strive for.

What should a church-planter, church-restarter, or leading pastor focus on in His journey?  I don’t know that I have the answers, but I have a few principles that have guided me along this journey.

1.  Plan on plowing this hard path for the long haul.  I have read a number of church-planting books that suggest the planter buy a cemetery plot in the town he is pastoring.  This shows himself and the community that he isn’t just passing through, but he is committed to sticking it out for the long haul.  While I haven’t bought a plot in Valley Center, I have taken this principle to heart by trying to make decisions that reflect a person who is sticking around.

2.  Preach the Word faithfully and a book at a time.  I think I apply this point to just about everything relating to pastoring because this is the critical element in all that we do.  I don’t do altar calls (not that I am against them), I don’t lead “the sinners prayer” after every sermon.  But I try to convey a biblical worldview through the preaching that ultimately changes the person’s worldview with one that corresponds to that of the Bible.  I often don’t know when, or how many people, have accepted Christ as Savior.  But what I do notice after four years of preaching like this, there is a large crowd of people who love Jesus, take His Word seriously, and about 30% of the body have been baptized at the church over the last four years.  I prefer people to process and wrestle through the text and then follow Jesus, rather then “follow Him” after an emotional response.

3.  Prefer slow growth with lasting results over flashy results that fade over night.  I think many planters feel rushed to push and force things to happen quickly because they are chasing the clock with support.  Money should never be a motivator, but money will always be tight for the life of the pastor in the early stages when he is trying to create something out of nothing, or something from something that is broken.  Therefore get your financial life in order.  Get out of debt, save, spend less than you make.  Do whatever you can to remove money from being a driving factor in your decision making process.

4.  Invest in people.  This is sort of a sub-point of the previous paragraph.  Get to know people, invest in their lives, live out Christ before them.  This takes time.  If your goal is to change a person’s world view from that of humanism to that of a biblical model it will take years, not in one message.  Don’t fall for false expectations that you are going to roll into town, preach a few messages, and then see radical life change.  Sure it can happen, but the reality is that it takes time to see change.  I think this is why Paul tells Timothy to serve “with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2).

Hopefully this makes sense as these are just some ramblings I am feeling in my heart at this moment.

 

Random Thoughts

/3 Comments/in , , /by

I love when people pray publicly, and actually pray to God.  Sometimes preachers finish up their sermons under the guise of prayer, instead of actually praying.  Sometimes people explain situations to humans, and call it prayer.  Sometimes we make excuses for ourselves and others, or politely but inappropriately consider the people around us too much. Sometimes we do everything BUT actually speak to God, almost as if no one was there.  The prayers that impact me the most seem to be spoken in such a way, that the pray-er isn’t even mindful that any other human is in the room.  Those kinds of prayers rock me in a good way.

A few of you guys have heard me say this before, but I wish we could reserve the word “awesome” to be used only of God, instead of using it as a common word for everything from lattes to the good eq of a snare drum.  Anybody with me?

At the Pastor’s conference at Murietta last June, one particular main speaker was very powerful.  A colleague of mine said of this pastor, “It was like he just came out of his prayer closet”.  There was a power and authority that flowed forth from his life in a magnificent way.  Paul tells Titus in 2:10 that we ought to “adorn the doctrine of God our savior in all things”.  The power that flowed forth adorned the doctrine of God, and I had a holy jealousy of it. It reflected a life of quiet discipline and obvious power.

I need to remember to tell people “thank you”.

I need to “follow the peace”.

There is a healthy and holy way to not care what other people think.  That is probably a good mindset to maintain, and I think it can only be found from being in deep and regular fellowship with Jesus.  I think “freedom from the burden of self awareness” is a great need for pastors.  I think I am probably doing my best work when I am totally unaware of myself.

I have found that in foreign missions, focusing on one area year after year can really be rewarding, both on a personal level, and for the kingdom of God.  Relationships, trust, love, cultural understanding, learning the nuances of a community….all these things take time and repetition.  As a pastor who travels a lot to a certain area, I have been very blessed to limit my travels to one region, as opposed to a more diverse approach (which isn’t wrong, just different).

Jesus is our perfect example in the balance between being people oriented and task oriented.  Sometimes it is hard to slow down and love people.

I am more impressed with a man’s heart than with his gifts.

Surprisingly, we are getting more 20 and 30 somethings in our church, and all that without an overly deliberate attempt to do so.  That is a pleasant surprise.

Some people in our churches are really intimidated by us pastors, and we feel the emotional and social strain of that.  Sometimes it is hard to identify that this is happening, much less believe.  I need to continue realizing that by virtue of my position in the Body of Christ, some people will treat me like a school principal, or like a dad, or like a policeman.  I don’t want to be seen in those ways, but I am and will be.  I need to be OK with the fact that their mindset of me may force me to work harder to have relationship with them, but that is OK.

I am sure that Jesus must be much more pleased with me and our church than I am.

Living in the Grace we Preach

/2 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

“God…saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Tim. 1:8c-9)

Pastors Sin Alot

The other day I was talking with a good friend who senses God’s call to vocational ministry who said, “One reason I want to be a pastor is that if I have to teach I’ll be forced to study the Bible more, and studying more will help me live more holy.”

I can remember thinking things like that before I got into vocational ministry.  In fact, I had alot of misconceptions about ministry.  I remember having to call a friend who was my senior pastor at the church I attended prior to becoming a senior pastor myself and having to repent to him for being so opinionated about all the things he was doing when I sat under his ministry.  I realized only after actually being in his position that there are many things you just don’t understand about ministry until you’re in it yourself.

My friend’s perspective about holiness was one such misconception I had.  In some ways I guess I thought the same thing.  I thought that living for Christ, and overcoming temptation and sin would come more easily because of all I was doing for and with God. Man, was I wrong!  After being in the ministry to varying degrees for over six years I actually believe the battle with sin is harder in the ministry.  The fact is that if Satan can bring a pastor down, he can break an entire church apart.  For that reason, I believe he targets pastors with unique fury when it comes to temptation and spiritual warfare.

 

Attacks on all Fronts

Spiritual opposition in my life has felt more intense than ever as a pastor and church planter.  Sometimes it feels like the harder I study and teach and serve Christ, the more difficult personal holiness becomes.  I find myself still losing my temper, lusting, acting self-righteously, or being selfish.

 

Perfect Pastors Only!

The sad thing is that people don’t like to hear this kind of stuff about pastors.  They want to think pastors are perfect.  I heard someone once say, “I want my pastor to be an island.”  By this they meant they wanted a pastor who seemed untouchable by sin and failure.  The truth is, Jesus is the only island in that sense.  And I’m glad to rain on the parade of anyone who is making a functional Jesus out of their pastor.  That kind of perspective is idolatry in the life of the believer, and undue pressure in the life of the pastor.

 

God Still Uses Pastors

My own fight with sin causes a funny internal complication when God uses me.  The experience in my life is that God has used me in some of the greatest ways on Sunday, right after I’ve had some of my greatest failures on Saturday.  I’ve been a totally raving heathen in the morning toward people who love me, only to have God save someone from hell through my witness in the afternoon.  Experiences like that have often caused me to ask God, “Why?”  Why do you use me when I am what I am?  Sometimes they make me wonder if I will be able to complete the ministry God has called me to fulfill in this life.  I wonder how I’ll ever make it with this black heart.  And my guess is that if you’re in ministry in anyway that you’ve had these kinds of thoughts.

 

Saved and Serving by Grace

While all Christian ministers believe they are saved by grace, I think many (like me) at least emotionally believe they’re in the ministry by works.  As a result we see ourselves as saved by grace but serving by works.  The above verse is the antidote to this hint of legalism that I believe hides in the heart of most pastors.  When Paul the Apostle wanted to encourage Timothy to continue on in the ministry he’d been given at a time when he’d been a bit faithless, Paul reminded him of the idenity of the God they served: “God…who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus…”

 

Are we Approaching Ministry as if Our Calling is by Works?

If you’ve struggled with the kinds of questions I’ve presented in this post which I’ve dealt with in my life, I hope you’ll find some encouragement in that verse.  Paul told Timothy two things here:

1. He was saved by grace.  You need to know that.  You are righteous in Christ in spite of who you have been, are, and in spite of the sin you haven’t even got to yet.

2. He was called with a holy calling by grace.  You need to know that as well.  The reason that God continues to use sinful guys like myself for His great work in the world is because I’m not just saved by grace, but I’m also in the ministry by grace.  The same is true for you.  Remember that and give God glory for using you in spite of who you are.

 

Continue in Grace

The crazy thing is that the born again heart won’t take this kind of grace as a free pass to continue in sin.  But this kindness of God actually produces in us a deeper desire for and pursuit of practical holiness.  So remember, we are saved and serving by grace, and the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness!   Live in the grace you preach!

Answers and Direction

/0 Comments/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Proverbs 16:1-9
1 The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits.
3 Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.
4 The LORD has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
6 In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.
7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.
9 A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.

Reading this early this morning set me to thinking.
1) It is incumbent upon me to have my heart prepared, in the right place. Or, as one biblical orator phrases it, “Living in Communion with God and living in community with each other.” For that to be a possibility, my heart needs to be prepared. And if it is, then I have no place to worry about the words that will pass from my lips throughout the course of the day whether I am conversing, counseling or teaching.
2) Verse 9 encapsulates this thought from 1-9 in saying that it is responsible for me to have made my plans, but I must remain flexible, as in reality, it is Christ who is the One who will be directing my steps today…not me.
3) Verse 3 reminds me that as I have my heart prepared, and as I have made my plans for the day, the week, or the direction of the church I am a part of, I am to commit my works to the Lord Jesus and a glorious thing happens…He, in His condescension, establishes my thoughts. That is, He orders and prioritizes them, some may fall by the wayside, others take precedence.

Result?

The peace of God floods my mind which is often times troubled and so easily stirred up by the unrealistic expectations I place upon myself and those that are placed upon me by others.
I have gleaned great and precious things from my Pastor, things that are discussed frequently, for they are constant sources of sustenance, guidance, and satisfaction. One of these falling in line with this meditation…

“How do I know God is leading me in _____?”
“Do you have the desire to do it?”
“Yeah…”
“Do you see an opportunity (a door) to step out and put that into practice?”
“Yeah…”
“Then go and do it. Step out into the thing. And see what God will do.”

Philippians 4:6-8
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.

Q.1) If you could do anything in this life (as a disciple of Christ), anything at all, what would it be (take no thought of provision or resource)?
Q.2) What would it look like, cranking away on all cylinders, 10 years from now (what would be the ‘product’ coming out)?
Q.3) Who could come alongside you and help you do it?