The Key to Unlocking Joy: The Joy of Gratitude
Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
The Key to Unlocking Joy: The Joy of Gratitude
Archive for year: 2011
Vision
By this time you might be beginning to recover from yesterday’s food coma. Hopefully. We (my family) are waiting for the arrival of our 3rd little baby. She should be here any day; I hope we’re ready.
This time of year always brings me great joy. I love the fall and winter; and preparing for the end of the year always brings great anticipation for what God will do in the new year. Each year in early November our pastoral team goes away for a few days to plan and pray for the upcoming year. As the result of a very full schedule this year we had to bump our meeting up a month to mid-October, but I’m pretty sure that everyone on our team is expecting good things in 2012, although it is supposed to be the end of the world.
After nearly 13 years in vocational ministry and almost 4 as a senior pastor, I’m more convinced than ever that one of the major roles for a lead pastor is vision seeking and vision casting.
In the early spring of 2001 I began teaching through the book of Exodus as a Jr. High pastor at Calvary Escondido. At that time I was also working closely with Joey Buran and Worship Generation at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Joey was (and is) a pastor with great prophetic vision. God used his discipleship and influence in 2000 and 2001, as well as my personal study and teaching of Exodus, to plant in my heart some important realities about vision seeking and casting.
In Exodus 25 God commands Moses to take up an offering from the Children of Israel, so that they might build a sanctuary for the Lord, which would be a tabernacle of meeting for the people and God.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
– Exodus 25:8-9
With God’s command to build the tabernacle came a vision, from God, for that which was to be constructed. As I studied and taught through this section of scripture over 10 years ago, the Lord spoke very clearly to my heart that as I sought Him, He would give me vision also. It is incredibly important that those in leadership positions be actively seeking the Lord for direction and vision. This should be a given for all Christians, but especially those in leadership, for where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint (Proverbs 29:18).
Vision from God primarily springs out of our devotional time with the Lord. Moses was on the mountain-top, alone with God when he received the vision from the Lord. This patter has held true in my life as well. Dedicated time away to seek the Lord for vision is essential. If we trust Him for this, He will certainly prove Himself faithful. God’s word must always be the foundation of vision; the core values that govern what you do and how you do it, but I have found that God uses many [extra-Biblical] ways to reveal vision.
Conversations with friends, family and co-laborers; articles and books I read; videos I stumble upon online; stray thoughts I have running through my mind (especially as I’m about to fall asleep). All of these things God has used over the years to develop and reveal vision. There is rarely a day that goes by that I do not have a half-dozen or more inspirations for myself and my family personally and/or the church that I pastor. Thus it’s crucial that I’m ready with a note pad – or the notes app on my iPhone (my current default) – to take down the ideas, because stray thoughts vanish quickly.
I don’t remember the exact date, but I do remember that it was a Wednesday night in the fall of 2001 that God spoke very clearly to me about casting or imparting vision to others. I was walking to the main office at our church to get the teaching notes I’d just printed on Exodus 31; the first 11 verses of which read…
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.
“And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle— the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base— the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”
– Exodus 31:1-11
After meditating upon the passage and prepping my message I had a conversation in my mind that went something like this, “Miles, I’m going to give you vision just like I did with Moses. But the vision that I’m going to give to you is something that you will not be able – by yourself – to accomplish. So I am going to gather people around you that I have gifted to accomplish the vision I’ve given you. You will have to impart the vision to those I’ve gifted, and then the work will get done.”
A vision is just a dream until it is shared with others. Only then can you, by God’s grace and power, step out to make it a reality. But many dreams are not [completely] clear when we initially have them. So I have found that it is important to develop the idea, make it clear and then share and impart it to others. Some people will probably think that your idea is crazy, foolish or “out there,” but those that God has gifted and called will lay hold of the vision and run with it.
Be seeking the Lord for vision. Be ready for when it comes. Be diligent to clarify and cast it to others. For…
The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.– Habakkuk 2:3
A Thanksgiving Devotion
Psalm 75:1 (NKJV)
1 We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
The Psalmist Asaph begins our Scripture verse with a simple declaration. It is the declaration that the people of God will give Him thanks. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5). You see, it is wrong not to say thank you to someone who has been generous towards you. Imagine if you had a child. Your friend comes over and brings your child a gift. Your child takes the gift and runs away and plays with it. Then your child ignores your friend for the rest of their time with you. You are no doubt, mortified. Normally, you would take the child and say, “Now what do you say?” The child says, “Thank you.” The Lord is to be given thanks for all of His abundant grace and mercy. Every breath that we take, every interaction we have, everything in its totality is because of the mercy of our Creator. “For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:15). Our thanksgiving is meant to abound to the glory of God.
“For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.”
We have abundant reasons to give thanks to the Lord. The Psalmist makes sure that we understand that. He says, “Your wondrous works”. The Lord’s work is indeed wonderful. All one has to do is to look around. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20). The creation itself declares the attributes of God and holds all men to be without excuse for praising Him. All that goes on in a person’s life declares that God is near. He has made Himself abundantly known in every experience of humanity. Nothing happens outside the will of God. He is sovereign over all things. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18). He has authority over all things, no matter what it is. All that happens declares the nearness of God. Dear reader, we are called to give Him thanks. Let us do so with all of our hearts.
Making Missionary Christians
“Do you love Me?…Feed my sheep.”[1] – Jesus
“…the church exists for the edifying or the building up of the saints; to bring the saints into full maturity so that they might engage in the work of the ministry.”[2] – Chuck Smith
“Preach and teach the Word—the very life of the church depends on it! It has the power to save lives, change lives, and give life.”[3] – Brian Brodersen
When men who are called by God and empowered by the Spirit of God preach the gospel, people become new creations. They come to spiritual life for the first time. This is what happened on the day of Pentecost. The Apostle Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. We are told that upon hearing the gospel from the lips of this imperfect but Spirit-filled man who was chosen by Jesus, over three-thousand people believed in Jesus and became born again.[4] We may not see three-thousand people come to Jesus when we preach, or maybe we will. What we can be sure of is that if we are called to plant churches someone is going to come to Jesus from time to time when we preach the gospel.
The Vision of Jesus for His Church
The truth is that Jesus doesn’t just want people to be saved; He wants people to be discipled. I like to think of a disciple as a spiritual apprentice. Before Jesus ascended back into heaven He told the twelve: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”[5]
According to Jesus you need to do two things to become a disciple: First, you need to get baptized publically demonstrating that you have repented of your sin and trusted in His work on the cross for forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Second, you need to begin learning to live by His commands as explained by the apostles and prophets to whom His commands were originally given. The cool thing is that we have access to the commands of Jesus that were received by the apostles today in the pages of the Bible. This means that people today can be born again through faith in the gospel message, and then become disciples by being baptized and beginning to learn to live by the teaching of Jesus that we find in the Bible.
Missionary Training Centers
Church planters need to see the local church communities that are gathered through their preaching as missionary training centers. In fact, Jesus’ original intent for giving leaders to His church is that those leaders would teach His people, disciple His people, and train them in the Word that they might be able to serve Him effectively in their individual callings. The Apostle Paul wrote of this in Ephesians four: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”[6]
Each type of Spirit-gifted man listed above has in common the fact that they are all communicators of God’s Word in one way or another. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers all have their own version of a Bible communicating ministry. According to Paul, Jesus gave men with these gifts to the church specifically that through their teaching the rest of the church would be equipped to serve God in their respective callings. This is discipleship! Gifted Bible teachers teaching Christians to obey Jesus’ commands for their lives is the picture in Ephesians four, and it is Jesus’ plan for how His command to make disciples is to be accomplished.
This means that churches that are merely evangelistic are only doing half of their job at best. Jesus style churches don’t just get people saved by giving them the gospel; they equip and disciple them through teaching them the Bible. The other side is true as well. If a church is only focused on deep teaching and doesn’t charge the people to take what they learn in the Bible and put it into practice on mission in their personal lives, they are merely encouraging spiritualized consumerism.
Getting Our Priorities Straight
If you want to be a church planter, you must have this straight. If you don’t set up systems for discipling new converts and training Christians in the Word you will never have a missionary church that is going into the world to do the work of the ministry. You will have a bunch of unhappy baby Christians who are so hungry because of a lack of being fed the Word that they will eat each other, and you. If you feed them the Word you will see the love of God in your church. You will see Christians mature in their relationship with Jesus and start living like Jesus. You will see them begin to share the gospel in their lives. You will see them take care of one another. And yes, you will see those who merely want to consume and never contribute hit the road. But the result will be that you will have a vibrant local church that really is a missionary training center that is being used by Jesus to advance His kingdom.
I want to leave you with a biblical picture of the first local church that was birthed by the gospel, nurtured in a community of discipleship, and used to bring many other souls into the kingdom as a result. This can be your church if you do it God’s way.
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” [7]
Summary and Exhortation
That dynamic, Spirit-filled, loving, sharing, and kingdom spreading local church began as a group of newly saved Christians who, “continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine.” Think about it. Pray about it. Do it.
“Do You Trust Me?”
Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Luke 5:3
In Luke 5 we see Peter made his boat available. Jesus got into it, Jesus told Peter what to do and where to cast his nets, there was a huge catch of fish and what was Peter’s response?
“Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
That’s where Jesus found me. Pulled up on the shores of life, after spending all night in my own strength, doing what I thought I knew to be best. And as I contemplated if I should waste my time on washing my dirty nets again…I looked up and saw Jesus standing there…and He wanted to climb into my boat.
I made my life available, and Jesus climbed in. He has done and continues to do the miraculous, the supernatural in and around my life…I was blind, but now I can see. God has called me out of darkness and transferred me into the Kingdom of His dear Son. And I have found out one thing…that as I grow in my understanding of who He is, and in light of who He is, and watching what He is doing in and through me, it makes me painfully aware of who I really am. I fall so miserably short in so many areas of my life and in others lives…and I feel like saying to the Lord Jesus, as I crawl backwards over the miraculous things He has done and continues to do in my life…“Get away from me, Lord, I’ll only taint Your reputation.”
And He says, “Do you trust Me?” (If you do, then you’ll walk in simple obedience to do the things I ask you, thereby proving you trust Me.”)
How is He teaching from your boat?
The Key to Unlocking Joy: The Joy of His Presence
Pastor Miles DeBenedictis
Psalm 16:11
The Key to Unlocking Joy: The Joy of His Presence
Church transitions: The bus is leaving, make a decision
A few days ago I was involved in some lively and some times heated conversation with a seasoned senior pastor and a missionary pastor recently returned from the mission field. The conversations took place in a car as we spent more than 20 hours traversing the highways of the Northeast and as far away as Toronto. The subject matter was diverse, but almost all of it was ministry-related.
Conversationally, I’m not sure the trail we followed to get there, but we wound up talking about the explanations people use when they choose to leave a church. We then talked about the role transitions of leadership in local churches play in people finally making a decision to leave. And of course, how those transitions also bring people to the church that probably wouldn’t have come unless a transition had been made.
My seasoned senior pastor friend said that the concept of a bus provided a good analogy and I agree with him. He helped me to think about the numerous ways a bus, its driver, its passengers, its stops, and its destinations provide some insight into the flow of the life of a local church:
1. A local church is in motion and there is a purpose for that motion, like a bus.
2. It has only one driver at the wheel, but it’s following a route pre-determined for it by someone that isn’t actually in the bus in the same way all of the other people are.
3. The bus driver has some freedom to deviate from the route, but he has to hit the stops that have been pre-determined for him.
4. There are pre-designed times for people to either get on or off….the required stops.
5. Some of those that get on will ride for a little while, realize they’re on the wrong bus, and then get off at the next stop.
6. Some will get on, understand where the bus is going and then strike up conversation with the others who also know they’re on the right bus, relationships will be built between them, and also with the driver, but he is concentrating on the driving.
7. Of those that get off, some will do so because their ride on the bus is over. It’s taken them as far as they wanted to go.
8. Very few of those that get off, actually get off because they don’t like the way the bus driver is driving.
9. When a new driver sits down at the wheel, some will get off at the next stop. Not necessarily because they don’t like the driver, but usually for the same reasons people have always gotten off the bus.
10. If the new driver is given a new route and destination for the bus, some will get off, but a whole new group of people will get on board and want to go that direction. For those that get off….no problem….it’s not personal, just not where they desire to go and the stops along the way to get there aren’t helpful to them.
Every analogy ultimately breaks down if you ride it too long, including a this bus.
Hopefully the ride has been at least a little enjoyable.
Can a Christian Vote for a Mormon?
The challenge of voting is solved for me. My vote is not determined by political party, nor by the candidate’s charisma, or his theological purity – I vote platform philosophy. Whichever platform most closely aligns w/ my values is the one I will vote for. If the Democratic platform aligns with my worldview more than the Republican one, I will vote Democratic and vice-versa.
As it stands right now, the Republican platform more closely mirrors my values than does the Democratic platform. I would vote for a Mormon Republican before I would vote for a Christian Democrat.
I would rather have a Mormon working for me than a Christian working against me.
The question isn’t: is Mormonism heresy? That question is definitively settled for the evangelical Christian. The question is: can a Mormon be President? More exactly: can a theological heretic be a competent President? Well, would you support a Mormon Republican who sought to protect life in the womb or a Christian Democrat who was indifferent to it? Would you support a Mormon Republican who calls for a strong defense or a Christian Democrat wanting to scale down our military to a position you would consider weakness? Would you support a Mormon Republican who championed 2nd Amendment rights or a Christian Democrat who wanted to pry your gun from your cold dead hands? These aren’t theoretical questions. (I think issues of trinitarianism take a back seat to public justice).
A few more questions are worthy of consideration –
Can a man of your theological persuasion have a different political vision?
Can a man hold a theological persuasion quite different than yours and have the same political vision?
Can a Christian be open minded toward abortion, want to expand the role of government, work toward a socialist state, and weaken the military?
Can a theological heretic, or a pagan for that matter, work toward limited government and be a social and fiscal conservative?
I would have no problems voting for Mormon. I don’t see that it presents a theological or philosophical problem for the evangelical Christian. Someone might object that a Mormon President will give legitimacy to the Mormon Church. Historically, as far as I know, the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church didn’t swell during Kennedy’s presidency, nor did the evangelical church see rising numbers because of the legitimacy that Bush the 2nd gave to it. And if Romney is the GOP candidate, and if he does stir up interest in and curiosity about the Mormon church, let’s take advantage of it. We should welcome a national conversation about Mormonism. If Romney is the GOP candidate, study up, boys, and have a response to questions and concerns about Mormonism. But again, I would vote for a pagan or a Mormon if we had a shared platform/a shared political philosophy.
I will be on my way back from Israel when this publishes and so I won’t be able to interact with any comments that are posted until later.
Dying Churches and the Church Planter
As I look across the landscape of our country and that of Europe, I can’t help but to notice the remnant of once thriving churches that are now run down buildings or historical buildings with no life of a church. This breaks my heart.
Almost five years ago I came to Valley Center as a church planter to restart an almost dead church. Through the journey of restarting Valley Baptist Church I have come to appreciate the unique challenges, struggles, and rewards of this type of ministry. I am convinced churches today need to invest in the process of restarting dying churches for a number of reasons.
Stewardship. The average church planter in Southern California will never lead his church to purchase property because of the sheer prices. There are benefits to not owning property, but that is not for this discussion. What I don’t like about this is there are many healthy church plants that are thriving while there are many dead churches sitting on property that is paid off and not being used. It just seems like poor stewardship not to unite two of these churches to reap eternal rewards.
Legacy. Almost without a doubt (sure there are exceptions) the founders of these churches loved Jesus and wanted to impact their community through Christ. Almost without a doubt the people of these churches did not change with the culture (contextualization, not distortion of the Gospel)and ultimately failed in their effectiveness in being able to share Christ with their neighbors. There is great potential if an established dying church can humble themselves concerning preference of form concerning worship, they have an opportunity to continue their legacy. I had the joy of becoming great friends with the man who pastored VBC through the 60’s and into the 70’s. It brings me great joy to see his joy as he watches our church thrive.
How to move forward? I don’t know exactly. I think the first step is to specifically pray for this sort of opportunity. God has to lead the way for sure. Second, I believe the local church should be actively involed. We couldn’t have done what we did without the emotional, prayerful, and financial support of FBC Mira Mesa for the first three years of this journey. I am praying and currently working with a church planter and dying church going through this process. I hope that we as a church can help other churches stay alive and become defective again in carrying out the Great Commision.
The right man for the task. The man called to restart a dying church needs certain gifts to enable his success in the journey. He needs to have a balance between firmness, gentleness, sensitivity, and most of all patience. Patience is key because restarting a dying church is like turning around an aircraft carrier-it takes time, but the rewards at the end are totally worth it!