Belief

In the words of John Mayer, one of my favorite song writers :  

Everyone believes, in how they think it ought to be.
Oh, everyone believes, and they're not going easily.

Belief is a beautiful armor, that makes for the heaviest sword.

Everyone believes, from emptiness to everything.
Oh, everyone believes, and no one's going quietly.

We're never gonna win the world.
We've never gonna stop the war.
We're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for.

After years of thinking about life I'm convinced that belief is the most powerful force in the world. Beyond self preservation (Muslims), stronger than personal satisfaction (Celibates), and purer than worldly power (Martyrs); a person's beliefs shape EVERYTHING they become.

Take a look at your own life: A majority of your friends believe what you do. Allocations of your time and money are typically parallel to your beliefs (and if they're not than you have to go back and see if you really believe those things). Your outlook on life and the future is filtered through your beliefs.

The question I have comes from something that one of my college students constantly tells me and my wife. She's always saying that belief is subjective and that belief is a mixture of experience, nature, nurture, and pride. If belief is truly subjective, then how do we know that what we believe is actually true? Not to mention the fact that her statement is just a belief, and by her definition, her definition is subjective itself.

I guess part of this question then comes back to whether or not truth is relative or does absolute truth exist?

Calling vs. Anointing

In recent years I've gotten to know a whole lot of people on both sides of the charismatic fence within the Church. What I mean is people who believe that we can exhibit the spiritual gifts we read about in the scriptures on a regular basis, and people who believe that the gifts are rare occurrences at best and no longer around at worst. Within these camps there is a particular spiritual language use to describe the same things.

One of the most common words amongst the charismatics that I've heard is "anointing". For a long time I was told that this word was synonymous with the word "calling" in conservative circles, but as I think about it more I'm not so sure that it is. This isn't really an amazing spiritual truth or divine revelation, it's simply my observation and opinion.  

I believe we are ALL "called" to do what we can to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, and as such, we all are responsible to fill in where we're needed when we're needed. On the other hand, there are things that each of us is "anointed" to do in a special way with a special effectiveness in the spiritual realms.

For instance, there are many people who can lead worship and if there's a need I believe they have a responsibility or a "call" to do so. However, I think we'd all agree that some individuals are "anointed" to lead worship above and beyond just an ability or responsibility. In my mind, when someone is "anointed" to do something that means God inhabits that persons work in a special way. Not everything they do is necessarily anointed, but certain things are.

I also believe that everyone has at least ONE thing that they are "anointed" to do. Everyone has at least one way in which God works through them beyond normal effectiveness or ability. The question is...What would this world look like if every Christian knew what their "anointing" was, and if every Christian did what they we're called to do?

Building the Kingdom on Debt

In an attempt to talk out my own thoughts, one of the issues that I can't seem to get around in Kingdom work is the fact that so much of what we call "part of God's Kingdom" is built on debt. Churches with multi-million dollar mortgages, small non-profits held up by credit cards, people lending to ministry but not giving, and all of this isn't even touching on the fact that so many of us as sons and daughters of God live off of debt personally.

Make no mistake, I'm not exempt from the problem. My wife and I are trying to get out of debt, but we still have a significant mortgage that we'll be in for 20-some years. I understand the fact that "this is the way our world works" today, but aren't we called to live in the world but be not of it?

A friend of mine tells a story of how when he was in seminary a guest speaker came to his school and told them that everyone who was there on student loans didn't have enough faith in God. The students then proceeded to get up out of their seats and rebuke him off the stage. Initially, when he tells it, you can hear the heart of his side and you think "maybe their reaction was right." After all, they're taking out those loans to do God's work and those schools are expensive. On the other side, maybe that guy was on to something.

Now I don't think that he needed to go in and lambaste everyone in the audience who had student loans, and I'm not sure it's a matter of faith as much as it is a matter of liquid sunshine. Somewhere in that entire story God has got to fit into the equation.

I tend to believe that if we truly are doing what God wants us to do then He will pay for what He orders. However, I believe God honors personal sacrifice and we all know that loans are a very significant sacrifice. At this time I can't fully say which side I'm on but I'm leaning towards no debt at all. I find that position has the most scriptural support behind it, and although there are some very real issues on the other side of the coin, I just can't bring myself to endorsing a "debt is a sign of faith" stance.

If we are truly building God's kingdom, then He has more than enough resources to do it. If not, then I believe we need to ask ourselves whether or not it's God's Kingdom or our own.

A Call to Repentance

Anybody who knows me knows that I'm passionate about seeing this world come to the fullness of the Kingdom of God as soon as possible. The reality is that that will only happen when our Lord Jesus Christ returns, however, I believe that we can play a role in at least getting things closer to what God intended.

The foundational issue behind turning this world around is actually fairly simple. John the Baptist preached it, Christ preached, the Apostles preached it, and so I will preach it. God's kingdom must start with a repentant people. We can't just turn from our sins and follow Jesus. We must repent, then turn from our sins and follow Christ.

The thing is... We've forgotten how to repent. We think an emotional prayer at the altar is repentance or a meeting with our accountability partner is repentance. The reality, however, is that repentance is not just turning from your past but dealing with it (to the best of your ability).

For example... If you've got people in your past that you've left bloody and bruised, you can't just become a Christian and cry a few tears and then get your golden ticket to heaven. You have to go to those individuals and do your best to make things right. Apologize, ask for forgiveness, and maybe even restore the relationship. I'll admit, sometimes that process is out of our control and those people may not want to go through it. But we have to be willing to set as many things right as we can before we can move forward to what God has for us.

This is the idea behind my Call to Repentance blogs. These are issues that I feel must be dealt with before we can expect God to start blessing us in ways that we desire. As we move towards being what we should be, we must try to deal with who we've been.

He'll Never Leave You?

How many times have you heard it? "He'll never leave nor forsake you." It sounds comforting right? God will always be there for you no matter what the circumstances. No matter what you do God will always be at your side and ready to help you.

This idea is found in the first chapter of Joshua where God is telling Joshua that He will be with him just as He was with Moses and that He will never leave Joshua or forsake him. The only problem is that this isn't where God stops talking. He goes on to say that Joshua will only be successful IF he obeys the commandments that God gave to Moses. He also states that Joshua will only be successful if he meditates on the word of God day and night and seeks God's face throughout his life.

The entirety of God's message to Joshua is an encouraging yet conditional covenant between the two of them. God basically tells Joshua that he will be invincible if Joshua seeks after Him and obeys His law. That is the side of the covenant that Joshua has to uphold, and is the condition under which the promise of God's presence is made. God will never forsake Joshua or leave him IF he hold up his end of the bargain.

If this reading of scripture is accurate then this begs the question, "If we don't hold up our end of the bargain, does that mean that God might leave us or forsake us?" To answer that we just have to go to the new testament to find out that God will eventually give us over to ourselves should we turn away from him enough times, and thus, I believe this is evidence that God will forsake us should we chose to forsake Him.

Now I know that God is everywhere and that technically He will always be near, but I believe, as with most things in scripture, God is talking about a spiritual forsakeness and not a physical one. Therefore, I believe we need to be careful how lightly we take God's promised presence in times of trouble. I know it sounds nice and it comforting to say that God won't forsake or leave us, but we must always ask ourselves if we've held up our end of the bargain. God is not obligated to do anything for us, and we need to remember that it's only by His grace that we even have a chance of His presence in our lives...even in hard times.

God Is Moving!

This is a blog post that I've looked forward to writing for some time because I've know that it was coming, but not until now have I been able to say with confidence... God is moving in Carteret County, North Carolina.

To write the testimonies of this experience would take an entire book up to this point, and the great thing is that He is just getting started. Churches are being purified and ignited with passion for the lost and not just themselves. Lives are being changed from dead and lost to alive and found. And the best part is that it's happening all over the community and not just in one or two circles.

Now I don't know if many people read my blogs, but if you read this one and you are seeing the same things in your community that we're seeing here, please respond to this blog and let me know what's happening in your area.

God is on the move, and I for one do not want to get left behind.

A Broken Nation: Answer 2b

The easiest example to come up with for peaceful resistance leading to God type outcomes is that of Christ himself during His trial. I know... we've been taught our who lives that He didn't resist at all, but I believe He did (in a peaceful way).

You see, not only in this example, but in hundreds of examples throughout Christian history, one of the best ways to peacefully resist is to say nothing while you're being accused and questioned. The amazing thing about this is the fact that as persecuted Christians follow Christ's example, they continually find the Lord coming through in amazing ways. If you read or hear about any one of a million stories about Christians being imprisoned, you'll find that staying silent has proven to be one of the most effective ways to peacefully resist. I don't think it's any coincidence that this is what Christ did as an example for us to follow.

Another example of peaceful resistance leading to God type outcomes is that of Daniel and his three friends (who's names I won't attempt to type at this time). Three different examples come to mind:

1) In keeping with their Jewish laws the 4 of them resist eating unclean foods, and in doing so they set themselves apart as young men of outstanding stature.

2) The familiar story of the 3 of them being thrown into the fiery furnace because they wouldn't worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar.

3) The time when Daniel resisted by continuing to pray to his God even though it was against the law, and thus, he gets thrown into the lions den.

In each of these examples the resistance could have been much more active, but due to the fact that they were resisting the authority that had been placed over them, they resisted only when it crossed spiritual lines, and they resisted peacefully. In the end God was glorified and they we provided for.

I pray that we would begin to find God's way of resistance and not just a good way of resistance.

Sabbath...Relationship Lessons

 Today I just want to be me... I don't want to write something profound, something educational, or even something meaningful to others. I simply want to put down on paper a recent lesson that I've learned about keeping a close relationship with the Holy Spirit. (If you can learn anything from this, that's a bonus.)

I've always heard that God demands us to take a Sabbath. Some say it's for God's glory, others say it's for our own good to rest and rejuvenate, others say it's not that important beyond the point of taking breaks from life. I was in the third camp. I always thought the point was to take some time for yourself and be refreshed. For me this often looked like an hour here, 3 hours there, half a day here, 5 ours there, etc. Eventually, I thought, I would be refreshed and the time would equal a day (more or less). The reality is that while I can be refreshed doing it this way, I cannot fulfill the point of a Sabbath without taking a whole day off at once.

The real kink in this is the fact that I'm a pastor and pastors always have something they can be doing to do ministry. If it's not church activities, one-on-one pastoral time, education, meetings, and planning, then it's praying, studying the Word, and staying spiritually in tune. Many people may not realize this, but all of the above are "work" when you're a pastor. Yes, studying the Word can be work. Yes, praying can be work. I mean to say that!

In this line of work, a Sabbath must be more than time to rest. It must be more than time to get other things done at the house. It must be more than staying spiritually fit for ministry. It must be... It must be... It must be a time to enjoy God and reflect on His and my work and see that it is good. Just as God did in Genesis, we must also do as ministers. We must see that resting with God and in God is about joy and enjoyment and being done and reflecting (not rehearsing) on the good. It is about a whole day. Its not just about the results (this sounds extremely foreign to me, being a "why are we doing x" type person). Its about connecting to the Holy Spirit for our sake. Not for the sake of others, but for our sake. 6 days out of the week we are called to pour out ourselves to the world around us. 1 day is for US!

This may sound obvious to you, but it wasn't for me. I was so concentrated on pouring out myself, that I found it hard to accept the reality that it's OK for me to enjoy God for my sake. What brought this to my attention was the discussion that I had with myself about my inconsistency in my prayer time. Not that I didn't pray consistently, but that sometimes when I pray I can't concentrate on that time but my mind wonders to other stuff. Some say that this is normal, but I don't believe it's supposed to be.

I'm finding that when I'm all poured out, I can still be running well, but I'm running on my own strength and knowledge and love and ability. Without pride I can say that this could carry me far, as it does many pastors who eventually burn out. But it won't carry me far enough. Ironically, when I do take Sabbath, I find myself with good concentration for about one week before it starts to wain. A Sabbath is about maintaining a relationship, but this time is not for the sake of others. It's for me. It's for my sake. It's for my joy. It's for me.

A Broken Nation: Answer 2a

Well, we've covered how to verbally respond if your leaders are trying to lead you in the wrong direction, but what do you do if that doesn't work? In order to stay true to the beliefs that we hold to as Christians, we have to resist, but how?

The first key, I believe, is in the heart of your resistance. I always try to define my heart by the words I use to describe my actions. In this case I would say that peaceful resistance is good, revolt and rebellion are not. It's at this point that most of my friends bring up some historical fact about the American or French Revolution, or any one of a million other revolts, revolutions and rebellions to try to prove their argument that we can forcefully resist our leaders, but not one of them has been able to argue it strictly from scripture. We (I say "we" because I do it to) always want to take what we think is good and then make it Godly, but the reality is that Godly things are way beyond good.

For instance, Christ tells the parable of the unforgiving debtor in Matt. 18:21-35 where a man was owed money and he forgave the debt. There's more to the story, but the point is that being paid money owed to you is a good thing, but forgiving the debt of another is a God thing. Jesus himself was hung on a cross for doing NOTHING wrong. Had He gone to heaven to sit at the right hand of the father for His life lived, that would have been a good thing, but instead HE was punished for things he didn't do so that WE could sit with the father. This is the ultimate God thing!

It breaks my heart to realize how much the concepts of freedom, fairness, individual rights and personal liberty have infiltrated the mindsets of those who call themselves Christians. The truth is that we have become slaves to Christ (Rom. 6:22) and we are called to be servants to each other (Matt. 20:26). God has called a people who would be a blessing to the nations, yet we constantly put ourselves higher than the world around us. We say things like "I deserve...", "I'm blessed because...", "He owes me...", "I have the right to...", "It's only fair that...", etc. DON'T WE GET IT YET? We are called to humility, meekness, love, selflessness, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, forgiveness and self-control.

As American Christians we always want to lift up examples of active resistance that lead to good outcomes, but in the second part of this answer I want to lift up examples of peaceful resistance that lead to God outcomes.

Technorati tags: revolution, Christians, servants, freedom, rights, liberty

A Broken Nation: Question 2

What do you do when your leaders are un-Godly and want to lead you in an un-Godly direction? This is a very real problem in many of our churches today, not to mention current and past governments, families, schools, businesses, and the like.  What do you do if you're a Christian in Nazi-Germany during the time of Hitler? How do you balance Acts 23:5 where it says, "Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people," (NIV) with the two greatest commandments of loving the Lord your God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself?

Christ says in Matt. 5:39 to not resist an evil man, yet throughout the rest of the scripture, it's very clear that we should not follow our leaders in an ungodly direction. Throughout history the Church has wrestled with this, especially when it comes to war. One attempt to solve this issue has been the drafting of the "Just War Theory". Other groups like the Quakers have chosen to refrain from participation in war except as medical staff.

For most of my life I've heard that supporting America, no matter what, is the best way to show respect to our leaders. But what about when America is in the wrong? (I even feel dirty writing that last sentence... Man we've been indoctrinated!) Better yet, what about when your church leadership is wrong? For instance, what do you do when your church wants to build another multi-million dollar building 10 miles down the street from the slums where people can't get enough to eat?

The real question becomes, how do you love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, when doing so requires you to not follow your leaders? Obviously, you have to resist, but how?

To find out more, read Answer 2.

Technorati tags: resistance, indoctrinated, Just War Theory, Quakers, un-Godly