This Sunday begins a journey for the people of Crossroads Church, and prayerfully the people of this community as well.
We are tired of the common place Christian life.
We are tired of our complacency.
We are tired of this so called American version of Christianity that amounts to nothing more than going to church on Sunday morning.
We are calling upon God to stir our hearts and souls in a fresh to way. To light us on fire for His gospel and Kingdom. To fill us with passion for those who are far from Him, and challenge to take bold steps of faith in our relationship with him.
I, for one, am anxious to see God revealed in my life in a way I have never seen Him before.
Will you join us? Check out the Project Awaken website for more information.
So, August 29th is right around the corner. With it, prayerfully, comes a movement bent on changing the people of God and transforming this community. (more on that to come)
I have one question though…
If you could meet one need in your community, what would it be?
“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common” Acts 4:32
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?
Do you know that Finland host the global Wife Carrying Championship? I kid you not!
All I really have to say about that is…Wow.
I was studying for this Sunday’s message. A sermon from Acts 3 that I thought was completely baked and ready to go! Until I looked over the Scripture again. This is what it reads:
“And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate…”
When many of us read this story, the only people we see are Peter, John, and the lame beggar. I have so often missed those that carried him. I wonder who it was? Was it his family or friends, or just people who had sympathy on him? In the Jewish culture any ailment would have been seen as the cause of sin and at the least anyone seen with this many would have been given the stink eye if not outrightly judged.
And yet, there was a group of people who didn’t care. Day after day they carried him to the temple. In the face of ridicule and public shame they carried him. Knowing that Jesus, the man of miracles, had died and already ascended, they carried him. After years of continued support and possibly no end and reward in sight, they carried him.
Someone around you is hurting. Chances are they have been hurting for a very long time. It’s even possible that they are incapable of walking and making it to where they need to be. And all they are waiting on is someone who is willing, no matter the outcome, to carry them.
There is a silent enemy that threatens every leader, every church, and indeed everybody. And enemy that I’m sure everyone reading this is familiar with. I have fallen victim to this enemy many times and found pain at the end of its sword.
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?
Update: Congratulations Kristie on your new book! I’ll get it to you rapidly!
I remember so vividly the day that Crossroads Church called me to be their pastor. I remember the joy. I remember the burden. The first day I stepped into the Pastor’s study and sat down at the desk I was overcome with emotion, anxiety, and a sense of, “OK, God, now what?” In my desire and passion I begin to pray, and to plan the future of our church. I had strategies and ideas. Hopes and dreams. I just knew that this plan was it.
More vivid than that day is the day I realized that my plan wasn’t God’s plan. The day I realized that God’s plan was completely different and so much larger. It was the moment that Crossroads Church went back to the drawing board again. Exhausted and tired from years of trying to execute plans that continuously failed I watch a church body, yet again, surround their leadership, and each other, in a hope of finding God’s plan, and God’s purpose.
During that time I realized, that Plan A, was never God’s intent, and that Plan B was His goal all along.
So we accepted Plan B and now we watch.
We watch God accomplish things we never thought imaginable.
We watch God heal marriages that were broken beyond human repair.
We watch God over come addictions that have destroyed lives.
We watch God change us, and change people.
We watch, and we embrace Plan B.
Pete Wilson has written a book entitled Plan B. The book is amazing. It has helped me to see that there is a life outside of Plan A. There is hope outside of Plan A. There is God outside of Plan A.
Don’t get discouraged. Don’t doubt God’s power. Embrace Plan B.
God is still God in Plan B.
In celebration of trying to learn how to live in Plan B, I’m giving a copy away. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog before April 30th and I will use a number generator to randomly select a winner. If you don’t win or can’t wait, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy over on Amazon.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” – Ephesians 5:15-16
One of the weakest areas in my life is my ability to manage my time and focus on tasks. I’m by nature a guy who is easily distracted, so when you throw in things like Facebook, Twitter, and really, the entirety of the internet, it’s a miracle I get anything accomplished. What’s odd is that I meticulously schedule every hour of my day so that I can get things done, but by the end of the week my planner looks like a glorified procrastination tool complete with lines and scribbles as I moved items from one day to the next.
I’m completely confident that if I forcefully pulled myself away from all of the meaningless nonsense, that I could get so much more done. Especially as it would relate to Kingdom work. But here’s the hook…
why do I even wrestle with this?
Why isn’t my hearts desire always to do the things of God? Why would I rather waste time away on social networks than cherish time spent in the word? How is it so easy to come up with catchy 140 character sayings, while struggling to get down on my knees and have a conversation with my Father? Why?
I don’t want it to be like that. I want to be a man of God who is pursuing Him constantly. Not just when I need some good spiritual tidbit to pass on to the people of Crossroads so I’ll sound super holy.
So I’m rearranging some things. And I’m not talking about priorities. I’m talking about the condition of my heart. I’m making a promise to God to purposely step away from all the distractions and instead seek Him. I’m limiting myself on daily social network checks and using all of the extra time to labor for God. At least that’s the plan. And I’m confident that God can provide whatever I need to accomplish it.
This is going to be my first step in allowing God to change my heart and I’m starting now. This will also be the first step for those at Crossroads who are going on a journey of Awakening.
Help me out here. What do you do that helps you manage your time to give more to God?
For several weeks I have wrestled with a truth that God has placed in the very pit of my soul.
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.
Are things well? Seek God. Are things hard? Seek God. In all things, at all times, be found seeking God. Come on Sunday, I'm ready to preach 2 weeks ago
