Do They See That You Have Been With Jesus?

Saints,                                                                                                             25 July 2011

Have you been with Jesus?

Acts 4:8-13 (NIV)
⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people!
⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed,
¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
¹¹ He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone'.
¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

In a perfect world every church would be filled with Christ-followers who look, act, think, feel, obey, pray, and serve God exactly like Jesus. However, I’m sure you will agree, that most churches are not like that. It seems that instead of completely emulating our Savior, often we find folks emulating the church leaders or other church members. If every member of your church were to copy you and how you live your life, what would your church look like?

Let’s explore this a little. This would mean that the church would follow your example of the following:

-Your passion and devotion to prayer

-Your passion and devotion to God’s Word

-Your life habit of sharing the gospel

-Your life habit of disciple making

-Your heart ache for spending your life while here on earth for God’s kingdom/eternal purposes

I submit that the most important aspect of our lives is how we connect with our God.

Peter and John displayed clearly that “they had been with Jesus.” Jesus demonstrated a desire and need to connect with the Father often. At times, He spent the whole night in prayer.

So, how does our “being” with the Savior impact our church. Please consider this statement.

“The best thing we can do to eternally impact others in our lives is to be with Jesus.”

You may say, “Isn’t preaching more important?” Well, I agree preaching is vital and critical to the church. In fact, one seminary professor pointed out that the act of preaching and listening to a sermon soaks up more “man-hours” than any other single activity in the church. Consider this question, what if our blessed and called out pastor happens to be caught in a trap of busyness like Martha? What if he somehow has forgotten to set his heart to seek God? This can happen as the demands of administration, counseling, family, lesson preparation, and ministry pressures mount. The pastor is not only to speak out information—he lives or becomes the sermon which he prepares. This “living-out” happens best as he spends time with Jesus. Remember, we must be the follower of Christ we want others to be.  The most effective followers of Christ, as far as I can tell spend significant time at the feet of Jesus.

A suggested prayer,

Father, please help me to resolutely seek after you like King David did. Help me to live in such a way that others can see that I have been with Jesus, like Peter and John. Help me to live as an example of how You desire Your Christ-followers to live. I ask all this for your kingdom benefit, and in order to glorify Your name. I ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.          

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

A Sleepy Church? (From November 29, 2010)

Saints,

Let me share a little of my heart.

My perspective today is on the American culture church as I know it. I realize some of you may have a different cultural background--you may even live in a different country. Even so, let me try to communicate my heart.

I am really hurting. It is hard for me to fully explain. Maybe you can help me? I hurt for the church. (I am speaking of the church as a formalized group of believers.) It seems that so often in the church we are content to come to God and really enjoy His presence in corporate worship, even enjoy a wonderful Bible class time with hearty discussion. But, where does all this lead? Are we really content to continuously learn and go over Scriptures with this apparent minimal effect on our lives and consequently the lives of others? What is wrong? Where is God’s power? Where is the amazing unity and oneness in The Church? Where is the supernatural response to God for cooperation, even interdenominational cooperation to reach a world for Christ?

We can feel so utterly helpless to do anything about our situation—even now you may be saying, “What situation? Steve, I don’t see the problem.” David Platt in his book Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, might help us to better understand “the problem,”

“As the American dream goes, we can do anything we set our minds to accomplish. There is no limit to what we can accomplish when we combine ingenuity, imagination, and innovation with skill and hard work. We can earn any degree, start any business, climb any ladder, attain any prize, and achieve any goal. James Tudrow Adams, who is credited with coining the phrase “American dream” in 1931, spoke of it as “a dream…in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.”

David continues…

“The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American Dream is that our greatest asset is our ability. The American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves, and we are drawn toward such thinking. But the gospel has different priorities. The gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in his power. In the gospel, God confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of value apart from him. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

I recently had the amazing privilege to pray with a pastor from Africa (via Skype). As we talked and prayed, he shared that he thought the American church was asleep. Yes, this is a good descriptor. This is what I am trying to share. We are asleep. Somehow we have become unaware of the (spiritual) battle raging all around us. Somehow we have drifted into learning about God, but not passionately living in God. We focus on financial challenges and political debates. It is hard for us to see the much-more-real spiritual battle.

Some of you may resonate with what I am saying. Some may think I am crazy. All I can say is that I believe we can be so much more. Please note the verb BE. As Jesus stated, we must abide and remain in Him, not merely do for Him.

In my last seminary course I learned of John 14-17 as Jesus’ “farewell discourse.” This is a common part of Hebrew literature in which a famous hero would explain how to continue on without him as he departs. As I am sure you have read many times, Jesus, shares in John 15,

John 15:5 (NASB)
⁵ "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Jesus prays in John 17,

John 17:20-23 (NASB)
²⁰ "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
²¹ that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
²² "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
²³ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

So where do we go from here? Please, let’s passionately join Jesus in His prayer for unity. Let’s make our priority abiding in Him. Let’s truly live like Jesus is Lord of our lives, not we ourselves.

In short, let’s live so a world would come to know Jesus.   

Father, yes, please help us abide in Christ. Help us live totally for you. Help us to be united in the love you supply that the world would know you sent Jesus and come to know Him. Lord, please remove any cultural hindrances we might have to this mission.

May God daily teach us to pray. May God compell us to pray for the church.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

Let's Pray Big Prayers (from 29 December 2010)

Saints,

I came across a passage in Philemon the other day which caused me to ask God to use me just as he used Philemon. Has that happened to you? Have you ever read a bible passage that seemed to cause your heart to resonate? Here is the verse which arrested my attention,

Philemon 1:7 (NASB)
⁷ For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Yes, I unashamedly admit it—I desire that God would use me to refresh the hearts of believers. And not just stop there, but that God would ignite a fresh fire in every believer to be compelled to chase after God in prayer—real intercessory, prevailing, Holy Spirit power prayer! I pray that God would literally remove any addiction or besetting sin from every believer. I ask God that He would remove all divorce from the life of every believer—yes, I am very serious! I implore God to cause every gospel-preaching church whether 10 people strong or 10,000 people strong to be completely united in purpose to reach this world for Christ, to make disciples who make disciples, and to actively and regularly witness. I ask God that every church would be compelled to pray because they see the magnitude of their task and know-that-they-know they cannot do anything apart from Christ.  

Dear brother and sister, as we look to 2011, please do not be deterred from your primary mission by political, financial, or societal happenings. Remember your primary task—to chase after God’s heart. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Ask him to clarify your heart on His purposes. Ask Him to grant you a passion for those things that He desires. Ask Him for His heart. May we move forward in a fresh passion—even a strong compelling to pray (real spiritual warfare—eternal consequence prayer), to witness, and to chase after knowing God more. All of this is to God’s glory, not our own! This is a believer’s purpose! Let us embrace it.

You may say, “Steve, to ask God to remove all divorce is too big a prayer.” Or, “To expect God to take away every believer’s addiction to sin is not practical.” Dear saint, I disagree. We have been given every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 Ephesians 1:3 (NASB)
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

We all must pray like this is true—the stakes are too high. I challenge you to pray God’s Word. Don’t falter on this. As intercessors we have a great responsibility, but how much greater is the God we pray to. Is He mighty to save or not? Can He remove sin or not? Can he reconcile broken marriages or not? Can He save this world or not? Yes, He can! This is the fight. Right at this point is the rub. Will we have the faith to believe that God can? If we will have this faith, then we will pray. Faith and prayer go hand in hand!

These are big prayers, I admit it. So, pray them with me! Let us not only pray with power but be used by God to ignite the hearts of other intercessors.

Yes, God awaken your church. She adores You. She worships You. She calls out to You for revival.  Please use her whether in Asia, Africa, Iran, Canada, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Ireland, Uganda, or in Sterling, Wiggins, Denver, Colorado Springs, Karval, Norwood, Security, Fountain, Manitou Springs Colorado to impact this world for Christ, to witness and to make disciples, to set the captives free, to deter enemy efforts to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus, may You be honored as the way the way, the truth, and the life in every person’s heart!     

May God grant us a compelling passion to know Him more—to go deeper with God in prayer.

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

How is the relationship between your church and God?

Saints,                                                                                                             17 July 2011

I know that is a strange question. How can we answer that question? Do we get the financial record books out? Should we cross-check attendance with a year ago, or two years ago? Maybe the most significant indicator of our church health is the number of baptisms. Actually dear brothers and sisters, I would like to suggest another way for us to examine how our churches are doing. We must ask ourselves, “How intimate with God is each individual church member?”

Is the Father every church member’s greatest desire?

Does the Psalmist’s describe your heart in the following passage?

Psalms 73:25 (ESV)
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

Yes, this is a good way to measure the church. We see men and women alike in the Bible who walked in a deep relationship with God. They sought after God. They were more interested in God’s kingdom than their own. There are many examples of men and women throughout church history like that.

The missionary to China, Hudson Taylor’s story fascinates me. We see Hudson Taylor who was used mightily by God and who found what we all desire, a soul-rest. He strove in his faith to be sure. Even so, he finally discovered true resting in Christ. Don’t you want that? I do. At times I am so overcome with a sense of God’s truth and power and reality, that I am compelled to action—compelled to pray. We desire every moment to be like that—completely surrendered and led by the Spirit.

But here is exactly where we need to see the good news. Where we are weak—He is strong. Dear pastor, if you are struggling right now, let it go. Rest--truly rest in the Father. This means stop striving. I know it sounds funny. It is “counter-cultural” To truly rest in Christ and His power. This is against the world’s wisdom. The point of true surrender is the point of victory in Christ. Let us live right there. Let us live in surrender. This is the point of real fruit bearing. Yes, God we believe, help our unbelief. Remember Christ—His power, Spirit, mercy and grace is the foundation and sustenance of our faith.

Let’s turn back to the church. We are the church. So it makes sense that if we want to know how the church is doing, we need to look at the people who make up the church. Are we like David (by God’s perspective) after God’s own heart? Be careful here. It is easy to reduce our walk with Christ to merely the three D’s: Duty, Determination, and Discipline without real connection to the Father. If we do this we begin to resemble the Pharisees—a hollow determination to follow rules instead of true heart surrender to our heavenly Father.

To help us answer this question about the church a little better, please read this quote from the Heart Transformation workbook by Keith and Karen Peterson page, 59.

“It is critical to realize that blessings are not the objective. They are the fruit of intimacy with God. Blessings are who God is. We want to know God so well, be intimate with Him by knowing His thoughts, His emotions, and His desires and reflect them back to Him. We do not want to just know and obey His commands and discipline ourselves to live them. True intimacy with God reflects a man/woman “after God’s own heart.” My life becomes defined by wanting to please Him, and not disappoint Him, and, thus. As my Father, He desires to bless me. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we are—heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). Pilgrimage is the journey of the heart to the sacred destination, His presence.” 

So, what is the point? Why does this matter? I submit to you that our intimacy with Jesus is the very essence of life—out of this intimacy flows everything God desires for this world. Out of intimacy with Christ, flows the obedience of the Christ-follower. Out of this intimacy with Christ flows witnessing, prayer, a passion for God’s Word, disciple making, repentance, and holiness. In other words, intimacy with Christ is life. Jesus said this Himself,

John 14:6 (NIV)
⁶ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Father, forgive us for being satisfied with spiritual numbness--even apathy. We need You to awaken, deepen and revive Your church. Yes, even each one of us. Please grant each of us an intimate relationship with You. May we be men and women after your own heart. Father, use us to change this world. May our total surrender result in lives healed, people rescued from oppression, salvation to men and women who need you, both in our culture and in every culture. In the name in which we receive every spiritual blessing—Jesus. Amen. 

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve

How is Your Relationship with God?

Saints,                                                                                                             4 July 2011

How do we evaluate our relationship with God? Do we list certain characteristics or qualities we can measure ourselves against? In the military, every member is evaluated annually against certain qualities like how well they accomplish their primary duties, how well they lead people, how well they maintain training requirements, and so on. Maybe you have a list which you periodically measure yourself against to find out how well you are doing in regards to your relationship with the Father.

Scripture says to evaluate ourselves, even so, let’s ask God how our relationship with Him is according to His viewpoint. After all, our life is defined by the one true almighty creator God. Brothers and sisters, let’s ask God today to answer this question,

“Father, how are we doing? How is my relationship with You from Your perspective?”

Be careful here, as seasoned believers you may be tempted to answer this question quickly yourself. Don’t quickly blurt out an answer. Wait. Wait for His answer. Don’t conjure up your answer—supporting it with Scripture. No, let’s go deeper here than our own understanding, or our own knowledge base. We must do this. We must be connected to the Father as He desires—this is the only way to truly please Him. We were made for deep connection with God. It is out of this deep connection with Him that life itself—Jesus Christ flows from us to others.

The best life we can ever live is a life in which our heart is consumed with a deep love for Jesus Christ. Often, however, we settle for less—we settle for a Christian religion. We can fill pages with things to do in our Christian life. We can list many ways to be obedient—many activities to avoid. The danger is that we can reduce Christianity to a list of things to do and to avoid. Then Christianity becomes just like every other world religion. No, our faith, brothers and sisters is about a person. We need Jesus, not a list. Jesus Christ is the only way to God. He is the only truth. He is the only life. He said this Himself,

John 14:6 (ESV)
⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

As you wait for God’s answer about the condition of your relationship with Him, I suggest you read the following passage from E. M. Bounds regarding a danger in the church and ardor in our devotion to the Father. This passage is found in his book, The Essentials of Prayer, chapter three entitled, Prayer and Devotion,

“The very essence of prayer is the spirit of devotion. Without devotion, prayer is an empty form, a vain round of words. Sad to say, much of this kind of prayer prevails, today, in the church. This is a busy age, bustling and active, and this bustling spirit has invaded the church of God. Its religious performances are many. The church works at religion with the order, precision and force of real machinery. But too often it works with the heartlessness of the machine. There is much of the treadmill movement of our ceaseless round and routine of religious doings. We pray without praying. We sing without singing with the spirit and the understanding. We have music without the praise of God being in it, or near it. We go the church by habit, and come home all too gladly when the benediction is pronounced. We read our accustomed chapter in the Bible, and feel quite relieved when the task is done. We say our prayers by rote, as a schoolboy recites his lesson, and are not sorry when the amen is uttered.”

“The ardor of devotion is in prayer. In the fourth chapter of Revelation, verse eight, we read: “And they rest not day nor night, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” The inspiration and center of their rapturous devotion is the holiness of God. That holiness is of claims their attention, inflames their devotion. There is nothing cold, nothing dull, nothing wearisome about them or their heavenly worship. “They rest not day nor night.” What zeal! What unfainting ardor and ceaseless rapture! The ministry of prayer, if it be anything worthy of the name, is a ministry of ardor, a ministry of unwearied and intense longing after God and after holiness.”

You might say, “What does the condition of the church have to do with my own relationship with the Father?” The church is greatly impacted by its individual members. If we as individuals are cold and distant from the Father—the church will be cold and distant.

We were created for intimate connection with God. Out of this connection flows a compelling desire to please Him, a passion to impact this world for Him, and the power to do so. Our individual relationship with the Father, made possible by the blood of Christ is the heart of our faith.

Let’s let God answer the question about our relationship with Him.

Father, forgive us for being satisfied with religious to-dos. They are not enough. Only You truly satisfy. Please grant each of us an intimate relationship with You. May we, like the angels around Your throne be raptured with You always. May our lives then, be spent for Your kingdom’s benefit. Amen.