The realities accomplished by the early church were nothing short of miraculous and wonderful. Innumerable people found the life-changing hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that there was not one who was needy among them. This church, was being the church.

When we read the first few chapters of Acts it is so easy for us to get wrapped up in all of the oneness and family. We can get lost in the stories of community and the radical conversions of thousands of people. In fact, I love to read those early chapters and dream of what that would look like for Crossroads Church, for every church.

I think though, that there is sometimes a danger in the looking back. It is easy to over glorify what was happening. Easy to get lost in their past and forget about our present. Acts chapter 5 begins with a solemn word. “But…” In light of all that was happening for that church, this is going to be a turning point. Things were going to change. Now, they were going to have deacons and business meetings! (oh, you know it’s funny)

In looking at and studying this early family- this family of strength and support. This family of love and encouragement. This family of hope and joy. We easily forget that family is often times a messy thing. That family is dysfunctional. That family has times of disagreement.

We forget that the beauty of family is not what they look like when times are good, but how they live together in the times of bad.

Many of you who will read this belong to a church. Many of you may even be struggling with belonging in that church. If I could say one thing to you, I would say this, find the beauty in the dysfunction. Find God in the mess. Don’t give up. Don’t run away. Find the beauty. It’s there. Under all the meetings and drama. Beneath the financial struggles and differences of opinion, the beauty is there. The family is there.

What do you think? What does the family look like?

Pride.

Pride causes us to look at every quiet conversation as if it is a conspiracy. Pride would have us to believe that every change and decision is about us. Pride would love nothing more than to lead us to believe that we somehow deserve anything that we have.

But humility teaches that if our security is in God, then the conversations of others should never threaten us. Humility declares that change, even IF it seems like it is about us, ultimately isn’t about us.

Humility reminds us that it isn’t about us and we don’t deserve anything that we have.

Our spouse
Our house
Our job
Our position
All of it is God’s

It’s my prayer that God keeps me humble. No matter what that means. That pride would be ripped from my life, even if painfully.

What about you? How do you fight the secret enemy of pride?

It would be so easy to find an excuse for me not being the person Christ wants me to be.
I could rally off the names of men and women who I would swear are stumbling blocks in my walk and in my leadership.
I could argue that I’m trying to be in tune with culture so I can remain relevant to a generation.
I could point to a list of laws and bills that completely subvert the word of God.
I could actually fool myself and others into thinking that I have this thing figured out.

Or…

I could humble myself before an Almighty God and ask Him to change me. To awake my soul. And when I ask, He will do it. And it won’t be easy. It would prove to be the hardest journey of my life. God would challenge me in ways that I never knew. He would force me to come face to face with me. And I know what that means.

But that scares me. I’ve prayed for God to move powerfully in my life before, and when He did, I thought my very life was falling apart.

Ironically enough, it was at those times that I felt most secure in my God.

I say all that to say this. I wonder what would happen if we started a movement. A movement of the children of God to come together and bow before Him and beg Him to change us.

What would happen if even just a few of us prayed for God to challenge? For God to create. For God to violently remove sin from us. For God to show us what it really means to be made in His image.

What would happen if we prayed for an awakening?

I don’t think we were meant to pursue Him alone. So I’m asking, are there any out there who are willing to take this journey with me?

With all the pain.
With all the peace.
With all the tears.
With all the joys.

If you’re in leave a comment below and I’ll let you know in the coming days how we’re going to make it happen.

And I tremble.

I tremble under the mercy of a God who does not give me what I deserve.
I tremble under the grace of a God who grants me what I do not.
I tremble when I think of His love that overcomes all of my faults. His strength that overcomes my weaknesses. His wisdom that overcomes my ignorance.

I tremble even more, when He reminds me that it is us He has chosen to carry His love to a world. To proclaim His truths to a nation. To lead His church to their knees.

I tremble greater still at all the work that is left to be done.

Then things changed.
We improved our approach.
We saw the disgrace that our methods brought upon the cause of Christ.

A generation moved to remedy the situation with a boldness and love that was beyond all others.

But somewhere in the correction, we over-corrected. In trying to swerve back onto the road, we jumped the median and headed straight for the opposite ditch. And now it is the fellow Christian that we speak to without love and mercy. Now it is our brother that we harshly discipline without the love of Christ.

Now we mock and we ridicule.

We tweet judgment. We blog satire.

And none of it glorifies God.

We over-corrected.

Your thoughts?

I’m left wondering though, is there an acceptable line of offense? Or is there a line drawn somewhere, an invisible line that says, “You are free to do or say anything, but don’t cross this line.” Too often, I cross it. I’m a line pusher. (and at good buffets a line jumper.)

The Gospel of Christ is a radical message. Matter of fact it is often times an offensive one. It offends our nature. It offends our pride. It offends us. My question is, in sharing the gospel what line of offense is acceptable? Do we portray the message in a way that no one is offended? Or do we just share it however, whether it offends or not? As the church moves forward, does it watch out for the feelings of man or does it just move? Does it give regard to the opinions and religion of others or does it just proclaim truth? Pure, unadulterated truth.

What do you think?

I forget where I came from. That I was once a sinner who needed grace.

I forget who saved me. Sometimes I try and steal the credit for this awesome life I have.

I forget what it’s like to sit on a pew. To wonder if the pastor still knows you or has he forsaken shepherding you for the vision.

I forget what it’s like to be outside these walls. To wonder if the pastor is so concerned with “shepherding his flock” that he isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to reach you.

I forget the days when Christ was my passion and meetings were nothing more than an organizational tool.

I forget that I should be more concerned with how He sees me than how you do.

More than all of that…

I forget that he promised His church would never fail. (Matt. 16:18)

I may fail. Crossroads Church may fail. But, HIS church will not. Sometimes we abandon programs and it was a mistake. Sometimes we cling to them and find they fail. We make this decision and we see growth. We make that one and we see mud on our faces. And sometimes, we don’t even know what to do.

My prayer? My prayer is that Christ never lets me forget that the church of the Living God, in spite of being operated by many fallible people will always be there. And will always be victorious. And one day will be in complete unity. Forever.

Jessica turned 7 this past Sunday and had an awesome party with her friends. Of course she was given some great gifts. From us she got her very first iPod. She was super stoked. (I was as well. She can now listen to Hannah Montana and I don’t have too!)

Here’s the thing though. Jessica doesn’t know/care that its an outdated model and only 1gb. She doesn’t care that it’s refurbished. She doesn’t even care that we got a refund of $0.78 because I purchased it through my USAA MemberShop rewards. All she knows is now she has music. Whenever she wants. From the moment she put in the ear-buds and turned it on. She was free. Free to dance as she pleased.

Bam.

They don’t care. They don’t care how much that new ministry / program our church just started cost. They don’t care how many times it has been used and re-used or who had it before. And if we were honest with ourselves, we would see they don’t even care how outdated it is, or if we would get any return on our investment.

At the end of the day all they care about is the music, and whether or not that can have it, anytime they want, to satisfy their deepest cravings. So what are we giving them?  A refurbished, outdated iPod that we saved a few bucks on? Or music that will cause them to dance and a message that will bring them life?