From Fellowship, To You: Sunday, 10/21

Matthew 17:14-21

This story is not about Jesus doing something the disciples could not do, but about what they could have done, but didn't. Jesus came along and cast out the demon they couldn't get rid of, but Jesus doesn't tell them it was from lack of ability when they asked him why they couldn't do it. Jesus tells them their faith was too small. It was not their imperfections or incapacities, but their miniscule belief in what God can do. And more than that, what God can do through them. Their reality is not big enough. Their reality fails to take into account the infinite power of God that, because of His love, He wants to display to the world through us. Jesus doesn't stop with a chastisement, but tries to enlighten them and enlargen their view of the world.

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

These are not idle words. They're an invitation, an urging, to see a bigger God. To understand that God is active - living, moving, breathing in this world and that He wants to live, move, and breathe in us, and through us, into the world. I have always dreamt too small. I often fail to believe not that God can do, but that God can do through me, that God will do through me. Sometimes it's just hard for me to believe that through me God wants to do the impossible. He wants to perform the supernatural in ways that are like the movement of mountains. He wants not only to perform the daunting task of building my character and working through me to build others, but He wants to cast out demons through me, He wants to heal people through me, and if I have the faith, all is possible. Is your world big enough? Is your view of God large enough? Do you believe?

A generous man will prosper;

he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

- Proverbs 11:25

We live in a world that hoards. It's the richest time in the history of the world, and what do we have? Not an end to world hunger (although that is feasible with the resources available), but more amenities, more toys, more crap. Our world keeps what it has. People have a very difficult time giving things away they think they have a right to. It's our money, our time, our resources, our friends, our energy, our stuff. We like to keep it that way. We get upset when that is not the case. We cling so strongly to that which belongs to us and it keeps us so chained. We are not refreshed, we are uptight, we are nervous about losing some of what we have. It's a life where we have a ton, but it doesn't feel like prosperity. It can't, we're putting our treasure in the wrong place. Real prosperity comes when we give generously so often that it becomes a descriptor that applies to how we interact with the world all the time. Refreshment comes when we refresh others. If we live in a way where we are seeking to refresh others with all that we have (more than just finances), it changes the way we see things. We begin to see just how worthless it is to cling tightly to and not want to give up what we have. As we release our hold on ownership, it releases its hold on us and finally free from that, refreshment comes and we're opened up to live in the prosperity God has for us.

From Fellowship, To You: Sunday, 10/7

Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. - Colossians 3:2

So often in life, I get caught up in the activity. I find myself wrapped up in getting things done and passing the time, all the while focused on it seems like everything but God. At the start of this week, that's all I did. Satan moved upon seeing my weakness (complete lack of focus), and I started living a very self-centered, self-protective, self-devoted, self-indulgent life which leads to a lot of the things found in verse 5 if you read the passage. It wasn't really a good start. It's so easy to lose focus. It's so vital not to. How can I think of heaven, how can I think of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ enthroned and remain selfish? I can't. How can I live as God has called me to if I've set my mind on earthly things? I can't. Therefore I must, we must, do whatever it takes to have our minds ever set on Jesus, letting everything He is about rule in our minds and hearts, and in so doing die to the evils of this world and bring to it the goodness of the kingdom where Christ reigns.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. - Jesus (John 6:38)

Cool. I'm imagining this in my own life and it is absolutely beautiful. Can you picture it? Imagine having no spiritual thirst inside of you. Imagine liquid life making up the essence of your being. Can you comprehend the freedom? Can you feel the joy? Can you sense the wholeness? The peace? The power? To add to it, if you read on in the Scripture it says that these streams of living water (note the plural) are the Holy Spirit. If you look back at what Scriptures in the past have used the metaphor of living water (even specifically streams of living water) to describe, it is God Himself (see, I believe, Jeremiah 2:13). Yahweh inside of us. The great God of everything, streaming through us like living water, and not just that, but flowing "from within." This implies an outward movement. This includes an inner life full of the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, but is not limited to that inner life. Jesus paints a picture of this inner world brimming with so much life that it flows into the world around us. It changes the world around us, the people around us. The overflow of God's life in us always has a Godly impact on the people around us.

May our inner lives be filled. May we always recognize that the great I AM abides in us and equips us not just to be alive, but to bring that life into the lives of others. May we live with such obedience, such understanding of God's love for us, such Spirit-filled faith that the God of life flows through us into the world. And May He alone be glorified.

From Fellowship, To You: Sunday, 9/30

Now...

Now is the time to repent and be baptized. If you have anything against anyone, forgive them in your heart and actions. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. This moment is the perfect one to let Christ heal your wounds. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to be free from addiction. Today is the day to be free from everything. Get over yourself. In this very moment Love Himself is here, be afraid of nothing. This is the hour of real, Spirit-empowered life change. Preach the Gospel to the poor, the rich, the disabled, to all creation. Humbly give your all to the God who is jealous of all that you give to another master and experience being lifted up by the very hand of the Father. The Kingdom of God is here. Heal the world in the name of Jesus Christ. Give generously of your finances, time, gifts, and who God has made you to advance the Kingdom of Jesus against everything that opposes it: unbelief, sin, shame, the world, the flesh, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Nothing will prevail over a man or woman equipped with the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Love everyone deeply, tangibly. Move. Move. Move. What is the next step, struggle, or action in front of you? Take it, overcome it, and take the next. Fix your eyes on Jesus, who is the author and perfector of your life in Him, and run deeper into Him - all the while faithfully resting at peace in the presence of Christ's immeasurable Love.

Luke 18:15 The Little Children and Jesus

This little snippet of the life of Jesus Christ is extraordinarily beautiful and sometimes just as difficult. The disciples tell the mothers and babies to get away from Jesus assuming that Jesus doesn't want to deal with kids, Jesus is obviously above such things, he's grown up, he's too old and important to spend his valuable time with kids. The disciples push away, and Jesus calls out to the children, telling them to come, so now, in addition to mothers and their babies, he's got a bunch of other kids near him. Just picture him. He then teaches using the children, mildly rebuking the disciples by saying that the kingdom of God is just as much for kids as others. Then, he goes beyond this (it's the difficult part) and says that "anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

This is convicting and often difficult for me to live by. I believe that there are many of us who simply don't want to enter the kingdom like a child. We'd rather enter with our heads held high like an adult. We don't want to be that helpless. We don't want to be that small. We don't want to be as inept, dependent, and undeserving as the babies in their mother's arms. Earning what God gives sounds a lot better than just receiving it. I'd love to receive the kingdom of God like a deserved knighthood, with God bestowing upon me what I have worked and fought incessantly to acquire. But it doesn't work that way. I cannot earn what God offers. It is far too marvelous. I have to come to him humbly accepting my own incapacity to deserve him or I will never enter into his kingdom. When I do this, letting go of my delusions of grandeur, I feel so free. I no longer have to stay away from God to become better. I don't have to be full of shame and anger toward myself for not living a life good enough to be in God's presence. He accepts me when I come to him as grateful, fully dependent, incapable, and desperate as a baby in his mother's arms. After trying over and over again to live like Christ on my own, I know that truly I am just like that baby. And it's so peaceful in God's arms.

From Fellowship, To You: Sunday, 9/23

Psalm 143

O Lord, hear my prayer,

listen to my cry for mercy;

in your faithfulness and righteousness

come to my relief.

Do not bring your servant into

judgment,

for no one living is righteous before

you.

The enemy pursues me,

he crushes me to the ground;

he makes me dwell in darkness

like those long dead.

So my spirit grows faint within me;

my heart within me is dismayed.

I remember the days of long ago;

I meditate on all your works

and consider what your hands have

done.

I spread out my hands to you;

my soul thirsts for you like a

parched land.

Answer me quickly, O Lord;

my spirit faints with longing.

Do not hide your face from me

or I will be like those who go down

to the pit.

Let the morning bring me word of your

unfailing love,

for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way I should go,

for to you I lift up my soul.

Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord,

for I hide myself in you.

Teach me to do your will,

for you are my God;

may your good Spirit

lead me on level ground.

For your name's sake, O Lord,

preserve my life;

in your righteousness, bring me out

of trouble.

In your unfailing love, silence my

enemies;

destroy all my foes,

for I am your servant.

I can't say it better.

Sometimes I want the world. The grades, the easy-riding job where I'm raking in cash, the fame, the superiority, control, power, pride, the comfortable life, the pleasure filled life, and whatever else it has to offer. The whole thing. Every once in a while, I forget what joyful life in Christ is like, and it can be tempting to drop this life of self-sacrificial obedience – by nature ethically opposed to the flow of the culture of this world – and allow myself to be swept up in the social current, embracing the twisted parts of me I spend so much time and effort actively denying and destroying. Merely seeing the world as appeasing is a perverted idea. It promises everything and gives out nothing. One reason I love Jesus is that His words are there to clear my perception. He exhorts me to ask myself the question: “What good is it if you gain the whole world and yet lose your soul?” Oh yeah, I remember. It's not any good at all.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - somewhere in Philippians 3

I think that, sometimes in Christianity, this is done in totally the wrong way. Instead of forgetting the past with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (that which we love God with), we ignore it and try to move on toward the goal (the goal is, contextually – intimately knowing, being and becoming like Christ in a faith-relationship). Leaving things behind is different than ignoring things behind. What Paul is not seeing here is to not think about the past, to not deal with the past. He's saying to move on from it. But we often have to deal with it directly in order to heal and move on from it. We often have to dig into our past and bring up the events and all the pain, shame, embarrassment, fear, insecurities, guilt, regret, and all the other emotions that go along with it, in order to allow the healing love and power of Jesus Christ to come into it and free us from it. We cannot pretend our past doesn't affect our present and won't affect our future. Our relationships with our parents, our significant others, friends, ideas about God, strongholds of sin, and many other experiences in our past have directly shaped us, often misshaped us, and to let Christ reshape us, we have to address these things directly. Painful things. Sometimes the path toward the future, toward obtaining all that God has for us, includes a stretch through what was behind, that all parts of ourselves - past, present, and future - may be changed by the infinite love of God in Christ Jesus.