In January my church always does a series called "Breakthrough." This year, each week we have been given a challenge for the week. I have to be honest and admit I can't remember this week's... but last week the challenge was to Speak Life.
While thinking about that challenge, I also began to reflect further on the meeting I attended last week where our speaker talked about how we overlook the beginnings of many of the chapters in the New Testament. When it comes to the letters, we gloss over the opening lines because it's "just" the introduction. But as we began to look closer, we started to see what Paul in particular was doing in his letters, the spiritual legacy he was building.
Tonight I was reading in 1 Thessalonians 1, and I got caught up completely in the opening. I began to read:
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. 2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Paul makes a point to speak life into the church and its leadership, to honor the hard work they are doing. So many times, we forget how much work goes into ministry. Tonight my church celebrated life change through a service called Basics. It was a celebration that included both baby dedications and a lot of baptisms, over 50 people were baptized.
But what most people didn't see or may not have noticed was the work that went into tonight. Planning, organizing, and a lot of effort when into the service. It took people to monitor changing rooms, passing out shirts and towels, many people directing traffic, a crew of guys to set up extra chairs when it turned into standing room only.... and that's nothing of the work it took our youth to have their service and the incredible, faithful people who were behind the scenes with younger children.
Paul shows that he honors time and effort. Church planting is hard. The churches were undergoing major persecution, and he understood that words of life refresh the spirit. Don't forget to speak life into your leaders and to those who serve with you. Honor their time, commitment, and efforts.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
The Chocolate Bunny
Several years back (we're talking something like 2007 ish) I spent a lot of time with my friend Cindy and her family. That year her youngest son, Matthew, was about 3 or 4 years old. For Easter, he received a chocolate bunny. It wasn't one of those little ones; no, this was a huge chocolate bunny, several feet tall and in a shiny box.
He insisted that she display the box in the living room, where he could look at it when ever he liked. Most kids would be eager to eat it immediately, to savor every bite of the milk chocolate. But not Matthew. He refused to let anyone open it, because he didn't want it to get messed up. It sat there and sat there, before Easter, and I think it lasted a bit after Easter as well. He was so preoccupied with having that chocolate bunny that he didn't want to enjoy the bunny for the reason it was actually created-- to EAT it.
At a leadership meeting earlier this week, our speaker talked about Colossians 1 and about building spiritual legacy. He began to read from the chapter, reading verses 9-12:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
We began to discuss what it means to have knowledge of God's will and wisdom and understanding. One of our leaders talked about how part of that knowledge and understanding is helping those we lead to see and understand their gifts and abilities, as well as giving opportunities to draw out and develop those gifts and abilities.
Ultimately, though, we are still left with the choice to USE the gifts or not. We can leave them on the shelf, admire our gifts, and maybe others will even admire the gifts, too. But gifts are meant to be used. To be put into practice. Otherwise they are merely decoration, and in time might even grown stale.
My church, Woodlake Church, has 2 main objectives, which our pastors discuss when people want to join the church, objectives they have done their best to ingrain into all leaders:
1. That the lost are would be found
2. That everyone finds their sweet spot in ministry.
I have friends with many talents. My friend Katie is an extrovert, she is gifted in welcoming people, in drawing them into conversation. My friend Jerrid is gifted in planning and putting together events. In the preschool ministry I'm a part of, I have friends who love babies and can spend all morning with them. Others in our ministry don't really enjoy babies, but they can spend hours with five year olds. The point is, they are using their gifts, developing their gifts. They opened the box.
He insisted that she display the box in the living room, where he could look at it when ever he liked. Most kids would be eager to eat it immediately, to savor every bite of the milk chocolate. But not Matthew. He refused to let anyone open it, because he didn't want it to get messed up. It sat there and sat there, before Easter, and I think it lasted a bit after Easter as well. He was so preoccupied with having that chocolate bunny that he didn't want to enjoy the bunny for the reason it was actually created-- to EAT it.
At a leadership meeting earlier this week, our speaker talked about Colossians 1 and about building spiritual legacy. He began to read from the chapter, reading verses 9-12:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,[e] 10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
We began to discuss what it means to have knowledge of God's will and wisdom and understanding. One of our leaders talked about how part of that knowledge and understanding is helping those we lead to see and understand their gifts and abilities, as well as giving opportunities to draw out and develop those gifts and abilities.
Ultimately, though, we are still left with the choice to USE the gifts or not. We can leave them on the shelf, admire our gifts, and maybe others will even admire the gifts, too. But gifts are meant to be used. To be put into practice. Otherwise they are merely decoration, and in time might even grown stale.
My church, Woodlake Church, has 2 main objectives, which our pastors discuss when people want to join the church, objectives they have done their best to ingrain into all leaders:
1. That the lost are would be found
2. That everyone finds their sweet spot in ministry.
I have friends with many talents. My friend Katie is an extrovert, she is gifted in welcoming people, in drawing them into conversation. My friend Jerrid is gifted in planning and putting together events. In the preschool ministry I'm a part of, I have friends who love babies and can spend all morning with them. Others in our ministry don't really enjoy babies, but they can spend hours with five year olds. The point is, they are using their gifts, developing their gifts. They opened the box.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Shut Up and Listen
The other night I was at a leadership meeting, and we had a guest speaker. He talked about a lot things, but one of things that seems to be popping up again and again was the thing he said his grandfather taught him-- Shut up and listen. You probably had to be there to hear it with the Italian accent.
Again at our prayer meeting last night, our young adult pastor Brandon, brought up the importance of not just talking to God, but also the importance of taking time to listen. To be still and quiet. Much of our thirty minutes of prayer was directed to this.
So as the worship team quietly continued, I found myself opening up my Bible to Jeremiah 33. Earlier Brandon had referenced Jeremiah 33:3, but as I began to read through the entire chapter, I began to realize some things...
1. Sometimes God has to get us in a place where we have little choice but to be still. In the first verse, it says "Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard." I can be stubborn. I have good intuition, and I'm often right. What's worse is that sometimes I know it. And sometimes I rely so much on this gift of intuition that I forget it's not from me. It's a gift. And it's not my source. It's not the main thing. And there are times when God has to strip things away, to confine me in situations so that I (hopefully) remember to rely on Him. To look for Him. To look TO Him.
2. We still get to make choices, whether to listen or to keep doing our own thing. I can't imagine that being confined was Jeremiah's first (or second or third...) choice. He could have stressed out about his situation. And maybe he did at times. He could have become angry at God, which is a perfectly human response. In my personal life, I'm feeling confined right now-- and up until the last few days, I have been spiritually kicking and screaming in protest.
But sometimes it's what it takes to get us (me) to listen. To reach a point where I've exhausted all of myself, cried it out, shouted it out. Like a four year old throwing the epic tantrum, exhausted, and finally ready to calm down and listen to the voice of reason. In Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah reached that point of listening long before I have.
One of my mentors, Keith Kochner, likes to say "Every moment is a choice, and every choice has prices and benefits." As I read the rest of the chapter, it wasn't a popular message. There is a warning of coming destruction, but there is a lot of hope. And in the meantime, we can get distracted, get upset. We have choices, including the choice to shut up and listen.
Again at our prayer meeting last night, our young adult pastor Brandon, brought up the importance of not just talking to God, but also the importance of taking time to listen. To be still and quiet. Much of our thirty minutes of prayer was directed to this.
So as the worship team quietly continued, I found myself opening up my Bible to Jeremiah 33. Earlier Brandon had referenced Jeremiah 33:3, but as I began to read through the entire chapter, I began to realize some things...
1. Sometimes God has to get us in a place where we have little choice but to be still. In the first verse, it says "Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard." I can be stubborn. I have good intuition, and I'm often right. What's worse is that sometimes I know it. And sometimes I rely so much on this gift of intuition that I forget it's not from me. It's a gift. And it's not my source. It's not the main thing. And there are times when God has to strip things away, to confine me in situations so that I (hopefully) remember to rely on Him. To look for Him. To look TO Him.
2. We still get to make choices, whether to listen or to keep doing our own thing. I can't imagine that being confined was Jeremiah's first (or second or third...) choice. He could have stressed out about his situation. And maybe he did at times. He could have become angry at God, which is a perfectly human response. In my personal life, I'm feeling confined right now-- and up until the last few days, I have been spiritually kicking and screaming in protest.
But sometimes it's what it takes to get us (me) to listen. To reach a point where I've exhausted all of myself, cried it out, shouted it out. Like a four year old throwing the epic tantrum, exhausted, and finally ready to calm down and listen to the voice of reason. In Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah reached that point of listening long before I have.
One of my mentors, Keith Kochner, likes to say "Every moment is a choice, and every choice has prices and benefits." As I read the rest of the chapter, it wasn't a popular message. There is a warning of coming destruction, but there is a lot of hope. And in the meantime, we can get distracted, get upset. We have choices, including the choice to shut up and listen.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
10,000 hours
I remember reading, ages ago in who only knows where, that someone had calculated the number of hours it takes to become an expert in any given field. Recently I came across the name Malcolm Gladwell, and I discovered that his book "Outliers" is the book where this claim is made. A quick google search shows that this claim is controversial, denied by some. And I will say that I can see some truth to the doubts-- there are some things that I could practice for 10,000 hours and still probably not have much success.
That said, I've struggled through the last month or so through days of self doubt, days of frustration, and another round of insecurities. We all have them. I'm freely admitting I have more than my fair share. I over-think everything. Over analyze. Over-whatever else you can come up with.
In the past my New Year's resolutions have run along the lines of deciding to make healthier choices that serve me. In all areas of my life. But that's vague and ambiguous, and hard to remember when I'm in the middle of overthinking yet something else.
And maybe this is ambiguous, too, but I was thinking over Gladwell's claim, and I've decided that I'm going to do what I can to make this a year of becoming an expert in happiness. In taking more time to do things that make me happy. Carving out that time when I volunteer. Reading the books I've put off. And developing my craft of writing. Spending time with my friends and parents doing things that we enjoy together. Singing to the radio. Singing in the shower. Sharing a hug or a smile. Small, simple things. Maybe not 10,000 exactly. And I know there are far less than 10,000 hours in a year. But it's a start. And if I don't start looking for happiness and creating happiness for myself, it won't happen on its own.
That said, I've struggled through the last month or so through days of self doubt, days of frustration, and another round of insecurities. We all have them. I'm freely admitting I have more than my fair share. I over-think everything. Over analyze. Over-whatever else you can come up with.
In the past my New Year's resolutions have run along the lines of deciding to make healthier choices that serve me. In all areas of my life. But that's vague and ambiguous, and hard to remember when I'm in the middle of overthinking yet something else.
And maybe this is ambiguous, too, but I was thinking over Gladwell's claim, and I've decided that I'm going to do what I can to make this a year of becoming an expert in happiness. In taking more time to do things that make me happy. Carving out that time when I volunteer. Reading the books I've put off. And developing my craft of writing. Spending time with my friends and parents doing things that we enjoy together. Singing to the radio. Singing in the shower. Sharing a hug or a smile. Small, simple things. Maybe not 10,000 exactly. And I know there are far less than 10,000 hours in a year. But it's a start. And if I don't start looking for happiness and creating happiness for myself, it won't happen on its own.
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