John 4- Worshiping in Spirit And Truth

"...True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." -Jesus

Yesterday I was talking with some students about one of the more exceptional gifts... speaking in tongues. We were discussing what we thought by it and I was trying to be careful not to impose my thoughts on the topic but also not to allow anyone to have dumb ideas about it. But, I think I erred on the side of being overly cautious. God is spirit. And I think the church doesn't have a way to cope with this statement, "God is spirit." I mean we know that there is a Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. We know that the bible says that Jesus promises this spirit to his believing followers. We know that the bible says that he is transforming us by his spirit and that the spirit is living in us.

But, what the heck does that mean?! It is rare to see spirit transformed individuals... Usually, I find a bunch of people that say they know Jesus, but I couldn't tell the difference between them and anyone else!? So, I think because of an absence of the Spirit we don't know what to make of gifts that require so much of the Spirit to even be possible. Think about it; the only way that someone could speak in a different language that they have no training in and actual communicate the Gospel of God is by a phenomenal act of the Spirit. Most other 'gifts' can be faked and can ride on the strength of man. Unfortunately, in my experience they do in a lot of places... However, tongues cannot be faked. If it is faked then it sounds and looks stupid I am sure. We should pray for a deeper understanding of the spiritual realm because God is spirit. We shouldn't scoff at a display of the spirit simply because we are so unspiritual that it doesn't make sense to us.

Which brings us back to the text... "the time is coming when worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." The time is coming. If it would please God, I pray that I am one of those worshipers. I pray that I would understand what it means to worship in spirit and truth. And I pray that I can help lead our youth group to be and do that as well. I understand worshiping in truth. I know there are plenty of people that worship false notions of God and he is Truth. He does not allow ignorant idol worship to pass as anything close to worshipping the One true God.... So we need a right understanding of who He is. And, this is found wed to the Words inscribed in his Book. But, worshiping in spirit is something that I know I need to work on. I need to pray for a display, for an indwelling, for a manifestation of God Himself in Spirit, and for an understanding of how to worship Him in Spirit.

God please crush my puny understanding of you. Blow in here in a way that shatters windows and knocks down walls. Don't let my stupid understanding of you stifle what you want to do here!? God teach us to be worshipers that worship you in spirit and in truth. Let us be a group of worshipers that you are seeking! If it pleases you, teach us to worship you!

Spiritual Hold Up

This has been on my heart for about a week... I was recently talking with someone about the dangers in Nairobi Kenya. I have been to Kenya on several occasions including this past January when the elections erupted and the nation was in turmoil.

We were talking about an instance when someone was held up in an attempt to get money from them... This is common in underdeveloped countries and even in major cities like LA or Detroit. But this particular story took place in Kenya. The tendency that we have as reasonable responsible people is to avoid any situations that could lead us into a similar setting. So, we avoid high crime areas like the bad parts of Detroit or LA and we definately avoid places like Kenya. I mean who would willingly put themselves in harms way?!

Here are my thoughts; first, if you trust that you are a better watchman than God over your own life, you are sadly mistaken. I could die in South Beloit today and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. My heart could stop beating because I drank too much coffee this morning and it feels like it might leap out of my chest and then stop working. I could ride my bike to work tomorrow and get clipped by a car. The reality that I have to live with is that safety is a myth. Comfort is actually a spiritual killer, and that God is more trustworthy than a risk analysis agent. I trust him in Kenya, I trust him in Detroit, I trust him in LA, period, the end.

Secondly, I am in far more danger here than Kenya. If I believe the bible to be true then I understand that my body and my life are fleeting. That my spirit and my soul are eternal. That I should place more emphasis on the health of my soul than the comforts of my worldly life. That being held up at gunpoint in Kenya would actually gain for me an eternal reward (whether I die in that moment or I am spared and continue to minister). And, that the gun barrel of this world is actually jammed down my throat and ready to destroy me. Think about this with me. How many different worldly guns are pointed at you today? Will you watch TV today? Will you surf the internet? Those are both tools that Satan wants to use to destroy you. Not that all TV and internet use is bad, it is just a convenient instrument for our enemy. Then it gets even worse. There are barrels that don't even have the appearance of evil. You can go to church and be spiritually held up. There are many that have the 'appearance of godliness but deny the power' (1 Timothy 3:5) and they attend worship services?!?! You can be exposed to them and actually become like them. I am far more scared of that than any light and momentary trouble of physical danger. I am more worried for family and friends that they will be spiritually held up and that they don't even see the dangers. What spiritual dangers have you found yourself in today? Realize how camouflaged the enemy is in America. It is not always easy to see and sometimes we mistake the enemy for our friend. Ask God to reveal to you today different things that pose a threat to your spiritual well being. Then go on the offense and rid yourself of those threats.

Friday at ECE

Friday was our last day of the actual conference and I was pleased with how it went... In the morning we hosted a carnival for local underprivileged students. Our students were in charge of a treasure hunt game and a frozen t-shirt race. It was really fun. And, it was really cool to watch our students minister.

Friday night was crazy! I was praying, "God show up in a way that is unmistakable." He honored that prayer. Friday night worship was anointed. Arron Chambers spoke to us about how Jesus used Peter, with all of his failures, so he can use us. 3 of our students responded to the call to vocational ministry!? It was so encouraging to see that some of our students feel that there is nothing more important than giving themselves completely to the cause of Christ.

What a week?!? I can't believe how incredible it was... Pray for our students as they resume life. They are no longer with 15 other students every day that are passionate about Jesus, they no longer have a scheduled time every morning to do a devotional, they no longer have a worship session daily to vent their adoration, and unfortunately the world doesn't want them to stay fired up. So, please pray that they would continue to pursue Jesus with everything they can.

Home Sweet Home

We made it back safely! I am a little wearied by the trip and life in general so hopefully this report makes sense. Last night we slept in the gym at a church and trekked the rest of the way today. We are all a little exhausted but we made it back and said our goodbyes a little bit ago.

Let me just quickly tell you about the last couple days. Thursday night worship was in the dark. They killed all the lights and played the whole set in the dark. It was setting the tone for the story of Jonah and his prayer of praise in the belly of the fish... Before we went in to worship we did a little biblical prep work with our group. We looked at Revelation 4. So, our hearts were primed. At one point our worship leader started singing a song called Holy by Waterdeep and because I was thinking of the greatness of our God and the Seraphs crying "Holy Holy Holy" I began to weep. My voice trembled as I fearfully sang to my King. Then I looked around and saw silhouettes of our group either joyfully praising or fearfully worshiping. It made my heart race.

As Arron unpacked the story of Jonah, hearts were pierced. 3 from our group made a stand, publicly repenting of sin and getting right before God! It was a joy to walk them through a prayer of repentance and see the joy of the Lord in them as grace washed over them!

I will save Friday night's report for tomorrow... I have so much to say but too little energy to effectively communicate.

Midweek ECE Report

So it is Thursday afternoon and we are at Roanoke Bible College. Since our last update we traveled 10 hours to Columbus Ohio, where we slept in a parking lot due to a miss communication. Then from there we traveled 14 hours to Elizabeth City, NC where RBC is located. We have ventured to the Outer Banks beaches twice, we have eaten boberry biscuits from Bojangles, we have surfed, we have straightened a Goody's Department Store, we have heard 40 or so shrieks from our hyper keynote speaker Arron Chambers, we are getting stoked on the Word, and we are worshiping our God and King. This has been an incredible trip so far.... Tomorrow we will be hosting a carnival for some young children from the area. Pray for our time with them.

One of the things that has been most encouraging about this trip is the relationships that are being built. There are several students that I have been blessed to spend some time with this week. There are conversations happening that would otherwise never have happened. So, I am encouraged and I know that these friendships will last when we get home as well.

God bless. I will try to recap when we get home. Peace.

East Coast Encounter

Top: worship

Above: Operation 12 team at ECE 2006

East Coast Encounter 2008

Tomorrow afternoon we will get in 2 vans with 19 people and drive 16 hours to Elizabeth City North Carolina! It is going to be an exciting trip where we will experience worship, teaching, community, service projects, the ocean, bojangles, wakeboarding, and so much more!

Be praying for us. In my experience high school summer trips are like the furnace of affliction... either we bond together after the imperfections are burnt off or we all just burn. I am kidding! It will be super fun and we will display Christ by the way that we love one another on this trip. I am sure that we will create memories that will last a lifetime and that we will shine a little brighter because through this I hope we get a little closer to the Son.

Apologies

I realized last night that the beginning of July was sparse of any posts... I just want to say that I am sorry and most of all to anyone who regularly reads because I fear that they might not ever return to read again; thinking "I checked for 2 weeks and nothing new, so why should I check back again?" Sorry.

The reason is because I went to Minnesota on vacation over the 4th and then we had our day trips to the Wisconsin Dells. So for those 2 weeks I was seldom in my office and I was trying to catch up with other responsibilities when I was here. So, I am simply apologizing.

John 3 -Regenerates

This passage has captured me for the past several months... The words of Jesus are eerie and apparently important. He says to Nicodemus, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." To which Nicodemus says, "WHAT!?!" We must be born of water and the spirit in order to see the kingdom of God. This concept which is referred to as "born again" or "regenerated" goes like this; We are dead. We are spiritually dead. Some refer to this as the total depravity of man. We are in a state of spiritual deadness and stand guilty and condemned by the Law of the Lord. Then something miraculous happens... God takes dead creatures and by His spirit and by water He quickens us to life!

This is such a critical topic that we are going to do a series in the near future called "regenerates." My prayer for every student in our youth group is that they would be brought to life by the author and perfecter of our faith. That He would perform the procedure of bringing your dead heart to life through the Word that is Jesus Christ! That we would be a bunch of people that have become new creations, the old is gone the new has come! REGENERATES! People brought from death to life.

John 2- Do Whatever He Tells You

Now I am not reinventing the wheel here I just want to point out a teaching that rocked my world on this text... Jesus is attending a wedding where the wine runs out and his mother Mary wants him to do something about it. She says to him in verse 3, "They have no more wine." To which he responds, "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Then Mary says something so profound that if you are not looking you will probably miss it... she says to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Do whatever he tells you.... Whatever Jesus says I want you to do. I bet seriousness could be heard in her tone. I bet there was a look that she gave them to let them find confidence in this good woman's saying. Here is the excerpt taken from Spurgeon's Lectures To My Students pages 248-249 speaking of a preacher named Gideon Ouseley preaching on John 2 to an upset crowd:
"I will give it you at length, that you may know how to act if ever you are placed in similar circumstances: — ”He took his stand, put; off his hat, assumed his black velvet cap, and, after a few moments spent in silent prayer, commenced to sing. People began to gather round him, and, during the singing of a few verses, were quiet, and apparently attentive, but soon began to be restless and noisy. He then commenced to pray, and quietness for a short time followed; but presently, as the crowd increased, it became uneasy, and. even turbulent. He closed his prayer, and began to preach; but evidently his audience were not disposed to hear him. Before many sentences had been uttered, missiles began to fly — at first not of a very destructive character, being refuse — vegetables, potatoes, turnips, etc.; but before long harder materials were thrown — brickbats and stones, some of which reached him and inflicted slight wounds. He stopped, and, after a pause, cried out, ‘Boys dear, what’s the matter with you to-day? Won’t you let an old man talk to you a little?’ ‘We don’t want to hear a word out of your old head,’ was the prompt reply from one in the crowd. ‘But I ‘want; to tell you what, I think, you would like to hear.’ ‘No, we’ll like nothing you can tell us.’ ‘How do you know? I want to tell you a story about one you all say you respect and love.’ ‘Who’s that,’ ‘The blessed Virgin.’ ‘Och, and what do you know about the blessed Virgin?’ ‘More than you think; and I’m sure you’ll be pleased with what I have to tell you, if you’ll only listen to me.’ ‘ Come then,’ said another voice, ‘let us hear what he has to say about the Holy Mother.’ And there was a lull, and the missionary began: ‘There was once a young couple to be married, belonging to a little town called Cana. It’s away in that country where our blessed Savior spent a great part of his life among us; and the decent people whose children were to be married thought it right to invite the blessed Virgin to the wedding feast,
and her blessed Son too, and some of his disciples; and they all thought it right to come. As they sat at table, the Virgin Mother thought she saw that tile wine provided for the entertainment began to run short, and she Was troubled lest the decent young people should be shamed before their neighbors; and so she whispered to her blessed Son, “They have no wine.” “Don’t let that trouble you, ma’am,” said he. And in a minute or two after, she, knowing well what was in his good heart, said to one of the servants that was passing behind them, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” Accordingly, by-and-by,, our blessed Lord said to another of them — I suppose they had passed the word among themselves. — ” Fill those large water-pots with, water.” (There were six of them standing in a corner of the room, and they held nearly three gallons apiece, for the people of those countries use a great deal of water every day.) And, remembering the words of the Holy Virgin, they did his bidding, and came back, and said, “Sir, they are full to the brim.” “Take some, then, to the master, at the head of the table,” he said. And they did so, and the aster tasted it, and lo and behold you! it was wine, and the best of wine too. And there was
plenty of it for the feast, ay, and, it may be, some left to help the young couple setting up house-keeping. And all that, you see, came of the servants taking the advice of the blessed Virgin, and doing what she bid them. Now, if she was here among us this day, she would give just the
same advice to every one of us, “Whatsoever he saith to you, do it,” and with good reason too, for well she knows there is nothing but love in his heart to us, and nothing but wisdom comes from his lips. And now I’ll tell you some of the things he says to us. He says, “Strive to enter in at the
strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will strive to enter in, and shall not be able.”’ And straightway the preacher briefly, but clearly and forcibly, expounded the nature of the gate of life, its straitness, and the dread necessity for pressing into it, winding up with the Virgin’s counsel, ‘ Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.’ In like manner he explained, and pressed upon his hearers, some other of the weighty words of our divine Lord, — ’ Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God’; and, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me,’ — enforcing his exhortation in each instance by the Virgin’s counsel to the servants at Calla. ‘ But no,’ at last
he broke forth ‘no:; with all the love and reverence you pretend for the blessed Virgin, you won’t take her advice, but will listen willingly to any drunken schoolmaster that will wheedle you into a public-house, and put mischief and wickedness into your heads.’ Here he was interrupted by a
voice, which seemed to be that of an old man, exclaiming, ‘True for you, true for ye. If you were tellin’ lies all the days of your life, it’s the truth you’re tellin’ now.’ And so the preacher got leave to finish his discourse with not a little of good effect.”"

Let us be quick to do what Jesus says. I want to be a people that bow in glad submission to whatever my master says.

John 1- The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning... In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him... his own did not receive him. Yet to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth... no one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. -John

In Jesus we have the fullness of God! In Jesus we find all things! We find life and existence and being... we find creation, we find authority, we find life, we find light, we find our new birth, we find His Glory! Let me put a little emphasis on the importance of Jesus! Those of us that attempt to teach the glories of God grope for words that will help us explain Jesus!?! I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. My experience with this God man, with this 'Word become flesh' is so profound and bizarre and real and terrifying and glorious that I can hardly express my sentiments. How can I possibly explain an encounter with 'seeing the glory of the One and Only?'

We are diving into the last of the four Gospels. I hope that you are eerily less comfortable with Jesus then before. The typical depiction of our savior has a hard time actually containing the Word. He is larger than life. 'Through him all things were made and without him nothing was made.' He is that incredible. He is that powerful and terrifying.

This morning I think it would be best for us to sit quietly under him for a moment. For me I think it would be good to repent of not worshiping the Glory of God in Jesus Christ. There have been many times that I have thought less of Him than I ought.

I am sorry Lord that, like verse 5 and 10 point out, you were here and I did not understand and I did not recognize. Thank you for opening my eyes. Thank you for adopting me into your kingdom of light. Thank you for making me your child. Thank you for making me born of You. A new creation. Who am I that you are mindful of me. I will praise you with my life and with my everything. Thank you Jesus.

Luke 24- How Foolish You Are and How Slow of Heart

[Then Jesus] said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken..." Luke 24:25

Are you satisfied with your spiritual progress? Because Jesus is not impressed. We are spiritually lethargic and we putz through life and Jesus says to us, "how slow of heart could you possibly be?" Jesus is parading the greatest truths of absolute reality in front of your face and we do not perceive.

I just heard of a prominent Christian leader say, "I did ministry for 12 years before Jesus took hold of my heart." That is a long time to spend talking about Jesus and yet 'being slow of heart'. How long have you been like the disciples who witnessed Jesus' demonstration of authority yet you have not been enlightened by his Spirit? It is easy to nod in agreement that Jesus is the Son of God and still be far from him. We need to pray that we would have this happen to us; "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him(Luke 24:30-31)." Pray that God would open your eyes to him. Obviously, their physical eyes were already open. I am not accustomed to anyone eating with eyes closed or walking on a road with out looking where you are stepping?! But, it says their eyes were opened. Their spiritual eyes were opened and they perceived! That is what we should pray for for ourselves and our friends... That God would open our eyes! We do not want to be slow of heart. We want understanding. We want spiritual progress! We want our spiritual eyes to perceive His beauties and we want our spiritual hearts to be quickened to Him.