What do you think?
“You shall not commit adultery.” –Exodus 20:14
With your eyes…
With your mind…
With your words…
With your heart…
With your body…
Yes all these can play and do play a role in adultery!
I had a great day ruined by a rough evening. I came home disturbed at several critiques I had received in regards to my ministry (not really new to get critiques part of ministry, they hit harder tonight), I shared with Christina then sat down to decompress, which is when I saw this photo:My 2 1/2 year old, and suddenly I had perspective. This morning this same 2 1/2 year while we were driving said, “I going to be pastor too Daddy.” He said those words without any prompting. I was listening to sports talk radio while we were driving, I turned down and asked, “What did you say? “Daddy I going to be pastor too.” Perspective. What matters most in my life is being faithful to God and His calling and vision for my life and ministry and secondly that both my boys always find joy in the career of ministry. Whether they follow my career path or not is really between them and God, but it is my responsibilty to make sure ministry is never a curse on their life. Perspective. If I do that well I guess it really doesn’t matter if others critique or chop down or decide I am doing a poor job in some area of ministry…praise God my 2 1/2 year old “going to be pastor too.” Perspective.
Dr. King spoke of getting to the promised land. In context I believe he was speaking of unity and equality for Blacks and Whites. I am saddened to say that much of the country is far advance than my denomination of getting to that promised land. Every conference that is regional and state that exist side by side all the while operating separately are a testimony that we have not made it to the promised land of racial peace yet. If our state governments functioned in like manner we would scream for change, why do we accept it within our church governments? Why are we not screaming for change!? Some folk are talking about it…Dwight Nelson…but we need more voices and we need to see real change, not just talk! Dr. King you saw it, some of us can see it too…I pray we will get there soon!
So I didn’t keep up with blogging through the Radicalis Conference I went to to learn about church planting, so I am going to give a bullet point summary in this blog. Even if you are not into church planting there is some great wisdom in here to glean!
How Do We Get Back To Real Christianity? Through the 5 Stages of Renewal:
“If you have no risks in your life, you have no faith. In ministry you are being unfaithful by not taking risks.” –R. Warren
There was a great tangent comment about his (Rick Warren) wife (Kay Warren). He just paused and pondered how his history would have been different if his wife hadn’t been willing to take a risk on him and the ministry vision he had. He commented that if she had said “no” he would not have planted the church he did. I was thinking how would all of Christianity be different. I don’t agree with all of Warren’s theology, but I value a lot of his methodology and his conviction to love and serve people! This moment was just significant for me because I thought about how we as spouses need to be mindful to support God’s vision in our significant others life!
Radical Faith Is– (Hebrews 11):
Steven Furtick spoke our second day and his message made me cry because I’ve known for a long time that God is calling me to step out in greater faith and I haven’t been faithful to that because I am scared…
Okay my boy just asked me to read him some books…so I guess I will have to finish the rest later…
So I am at a conference to learn about church planting. The entire conference is not focused on church planting, this is just the conference track I am a part of. So some of what I am going to share is not directly related to chuch planting, as the Plenary speakers are focused on more ministry issues in general.
So here are some highlights from Day 1: (in bullet points)
Some Points on Leadership & Church Planting:
Can’t wait to start!
“You shall not murder.” –Exodus 20:13
Murder is: “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.” Unlawful has come to be defined by our laws not God’s law. Which is why I don’t like this definition because then society creates the standard by which murder takes place. I say this because in our society it has become acceptable to practice abortion as a means of birth control and or to utilize death row as a means of punishment and in neither case is it ever considered “murder” because by definition it is “lawful.” Who decides what is murder though, a law made by man or God. When men feel it is in their right to decide who gets to live and who gets to die, we are walking a fine line between being human and playing God. And when we begin to play God, things can go terribly wrong.
Our starting point in discussions regarding abortion should not be a woman’s right to choose. It should not be convenience. It should not be the economic situation of an individual. Roe v. Wade. These all may be a part of the conversation, but they should not be the starting point of the conversation. For the Christian the starting point should always be: God values ALL life!
Our starting point in discussions regarding the death penalty should not be humaneness of lethal injections. They should not be retribution for the family. They should not be the combined criminal record of an individual. These all may be a part of the conversation, but they should not be the starting point of the conversation. For the Christian the starting point should always be: God values ALL life!
“You shall not murder” based on God’s definition of the immense value of life, not the laws of men trying to play God.
I received an e-mail tonight from one of my members and in that e-mail it prompted some questions about the phrase, “I am not convicted yet…” in my mind. Would you please discuss and let me know what you think about my following thoughts:
I hear people say a lot, “I haven’t been convicted on that yet.” Or “God hasn’t convicted me.” Most the time we as Christians accept these statements as a legitimite position for an individual to hold, but I wonder have we taken these positions to far? I know in scripture there are a few texts when Paul talks about being “convinced,” and this is a synonym to conviction. But is there ever a story in scripture where someone is clearly presented truth and they say, “yes I see that, but I am not convicted.” ? It seems in scripture when folk are confronted with truth, they either reject it or accept it, the area of gray seems to be minimal compared to what we accept now. And also our acceptance of this answer in regards to conviction seems to be based more on certain areas rather than a universal position of all of scripture. An example: When it comes to the Sabbath, if we teach someone that 7th day is the Sabbath and we show them from scripture this truth. Now if the person responded, “I see where you are coming from, but I am not convicted on this yet.” Most of us…at least I know I have…would say, “That is okay God will convict you in your own time.” If we were presenting to the exact same person and we showed them from scripture that adultery is wrong, if said person responded by saying, “I can see where you are coming from, but God hasn’t convicted me on that yet” I believe we would be much less likely to accept that position, and we would begin to think that the person was just making an excuse for sin. It is the same with “tithe” if people don’t feel “convicted” to tithe we say, “ok.” But if they don’t feel convicted to “love their neighbor” we wouldn’t accept that position.
If truth is truth. When it is presented and understood. Should our conviction even be an issue? It is in scripture. Period! Wouldn’t this nullify a lot of those, “I’m not convicted” statements and wouldn’t this force us as Christians to be more real with ourselves and with God and more honest and just admit, it isn’t about conviction, it is about my unwillingness to follow truth?
Am I making any sense? Am I off base in what I am saying? Have we gone to far with the idea of “conviction” and what subjects of the Bible this can or cannot be used for?
Please share?
7
Greetings Y’all–
Just wanted to share with you a link on itunes to a single that was recently released by a friend of mine from Southern Adventist University, Joey Tolbert. This is just the single, her album is being released March 1st. Joey and I got to know each other and became friends our first year at Southern because we worked for the same couple, her cleaning the house and me doing the yard work. Later Joey’s future husband, Matt, and I toured around the country for 4 1/2 months, with 5 other gents, doing ministry. Then Matt and I were flat mates and Rook competitors. I know a lot of information you didn’t care about, but if I personalize this you may go pay .99 cents to buy her song 🙂 And hopefully after that the album.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” –Exodus 20:12
I was just thinking about this text last night. My Dad and I went to an individuals house to give a Bible Study, which is really awesome that I get that experience with my Dad. After the study we sat in my driveway for about an hour just talking. I came inside and this text popped into my head, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long…” I didn’t think about it because I had been disrespectful or dishonoring to him. I realized my dad is a lot smarter than me, not intellectually though probably that too, but experientially. That text popped into my head and I felt God impressing upon my heart to listen to honor my Dad’s counsel because his wisdom would help me avoid some pitfalls in life, thus reducing my stress, and thus hopefully I will live longer as a result. Suddenly I realized honoring is not just about being kind and respectful. It is more than just being obedient while a child. It is a lifelong commitment to honoring their counsel, the legacy God is using them to help direct us into.
I know that not everyone has a Dad or Mom. Or not everyone is blessed with the relationship with their Dad or Mom that I am. To those folk I would encourage you to do this, go seek out someone that is older than you someone with more life experience. Even if you are 40 or 50 I am sure there is someone that is 60 or 70 that could throw some counsel into your life. I think you would be surprised at how many great people are out there willing to speak words that we need to honor into our lives, if we would just listen!
I am blessed beyond words to have my Mom and Dad as two of my best friends. But I also have a significant number of other folk that I ask and invite into my life to give me counsel that will help me to live a long and blessed life.
Our church has recently faced two challenges, challenges that are a sign of God’s blessing, but challenges none the less. The first challenge our sanctuary was reaching the 80% capacity and in church growth that is a dangerous number. The 80% rule of church growth is that, if your church reaches 80% capacity rather than growing all the way to 100% a church will in fact begin to decline. Our second challenge was that we were having a number of families that were attending our church and looking for a place to put their kids while they attended the main worship service. These families were typically unchurched and or from Sunday churches that provide child care during the worship service, either way we saw the need to minister to these families and to remove all barriers that would keep us from doing so.
So what did we do to meet each of these challenges? At first we were only focused on the challenge of space. We went back and forth debating the need for a second service. We prayed about this, planned for it, then backed off. We prayed, planned, backed off. We just didn’t see that we were quite ready to make this leap! It was during one of these planning sessions that we looked at model where one service was “family style worship” (meaning the entire family attends the worship together) and the second service provided a children’s church so that there would be options for families. As we were looking at this model we began to also think about our second challenge, ministering to families who were not comfortable or acquainted with “family style worship.” We realized at that point that on any given Sabbath (Saturday) we have roughly 50-80 kids attending our church, if we began a children’s church to meet our second challenge this would also meet the needs of our first challenge.
Well at the beginning of February we began our new Children’s Church. What has happened? Both of our challenges have for the time been met and removed. About 30 kids have been in our children’s church (ages 2-8) along with our nursery this has met the needs of about 40 kids each week, and the families that desire to take advantage of these ministries. One of our members contacted me this week and shared with me that a colleague of his was wanting to visit our church, but was wondering what they could do with their kids. This member was wondering what week we were going to have children’s church? I was happy to tell him that his co-worker could come on any week and find a place to send their kids.
Our second challenge is being met because we have now gone from bumping up against the 80% capacity mark to being closer to 56% of capacity, which means we can continue to grow without worry of beginning to decline.
We have killed two birds with one stone. What challenges does your church face and are you proactively looking for ways to overcome those challenges so that the Kingdom of God will grow and be glorified?
So the latest thing is to have flash mob’s, if you don’t know what those are check out wikipedia. Well recently at my Alma Mater Southern Adventist University there was a flash mob to celebrate a gift the student’s gave to charity. Also at the end our President Gordon Bietz is the guy with the crazy hair (an example of why he gets standing ovations from the student body of Southern each year), I think I even saw our chaplain Brennon Kirstein in this crazy celebration. Now this isn’t the greatest flash mob ever but I cut them some slack, we are Adventist and no one ever taught us how to move or lift up our hands! Enjoy and I love my school!
“For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” –Exodus 20:11
Exodus 20:11 points us back to creation, back to the institution of the Sabbath,
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” –Genesis 2: 2, 3.
This text reminds us that the Sabbath is not some arbitrary law. It’s establishment was not at Mount Sinai when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, but rather was a part of God’s original plan before sin ever entered the world. The Sabbath is as Holy as the establishment of unity between one man and one woman at the beginning of time. The commandment is simply a reminder to all mankind to worship the creator on His holy day.
On December 17, 2002 I asked this beautiful woman to be my valentine and more than 8 years later she still is my beautiful valentine. She is now also the valentine and amazing mother to our two boys. Jesus has blessed this home and we thank Him for loving us first so that we have the capacity to love one another!
“But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.” –Exodus 20:10
We most often think of the Sabbath from a very selfish point of view, as a day for us. The reality is that we have responsibility not only to teach others about the Sabbath, but also to not put them in a position where they may be breaking the Sabbath, such as ignoring the command to not work. Are people working for you on God’s holy day?
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work” –Exodus 20:9
This text is more than about a command to simply not work on the 7th day Sabbath. Exodus 20:9 is to remind us that our lives are not dependent upon our labor but rather on the grace of God. While the rest of the world teaches that ceaseless labor is the key to success, God reminds us that worship of the one true God is of ultimate value in our life!
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” –Exodus 20:8
The Sabbath day is HOLY. The word for “holy” in Hebrew is “Qadosh” which literally means according to Koehler and Baumgartner’s Hebrew Lexicon: “withheld from profane use, to be treated with special care.”
So the question for all of us would be is the Sabbath day withheld in our lives from profane use? Is the Sabbath day treated with special care? I think to know if the Sabbath is being treated in a profane way in our lives we have to understand that to “profane something” means to bring the secular into the sacred. So doing secular activities on a sacred day would be profaning the Sabbath.
Let us all keep the Sabbath Holy!
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. For most of my Christian journey I have shied away from trying to convert folk to “Adventism” that were already Christians of other denominations. In fact when I accepted Jesus there are a couple things I said I would “NEVER” do, “I will never try to convince anyone to become an Adventist.” Well I became a Seventh-day Adventist Minister so that went out the window, but I did stick to it, in that I didn’t spend much time worrying about or even caring if other Christians became Adventist. I figured, “they are already Christian, so that is good enough.” I believe I had this view because I didn’t want our church to come across as arrogant or elitist. Over the last couple of years my journey has been away from this position, ’till now, I believe I have the exact opposite frame of mind and position than I started with. I will say it: I BELIEVE PEOPLE SHOULD BE ADVENTIST! Before you leave this blog or send off a scathing remark let me clarify a couple things. First of all this position does not mean that I believe only Adventists will be saved. This position does not mean that I believe everyone should be an Adventist RIGHT NOW. I believe there are folk that if they were currently in our churches their Christian experience would be hurt because many of our churches are not ready to receive them and love them the way Christ loves them. This position does not mean that I believe we should raid non-Adventist churches or speak ill against non-Adventist churches.
Here is what this position does mean. That when I speak of 125,000 persons in the city of Visalia and there are only 2,000 Adventists as I mentioned in a previous post, I am concerned about reaching all 123,000 non-Adventists with the parts of scripture Adventists teach that I believe are neglected in the rest of Christendom. I believe if I did not care about this, and if I am not willing to do this, then I am not fulfilling the Great Commission which tells us, “
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19, 20).
We love the disciple making part that is following Jesus. We love the baptizing part that is publicly declaring allegiance to Jesus. But the Commission also tells us to “teach people to obey everything I have commanded.” When I read that I believe Jesus is telling us to teach people to obey the totality of scripture! Part of obedience in learning the right things, learning truth.
What if Jesus had said “I don’t want to offend the Sadducees who don’t believe in the resurrection so when they want to talk to me about this subject I’m going to tell them not to worry about it. We’re all Jews. And that is really what matters!” No Jesus talked about the resurrection (Luke 20:27-39).
Or what about Paul when he visited the folk at Ephesus. Here he met fellow Christians, followers of Christ, but they had never heard about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What if Paul had said, “well don’t worry about it. You believe in Jesus and that is all that matters.” No Paul talked about the Holy Spirit Baptism (Acts 19:1-7).
I believe the Bible teaches the 7th day Sabbath. I believe the Bible teaches a visible single second coming of Christ, no rapture. I believe the Bible teaches soul sleep. I believe the Bible teaches a pre-Advent judgment. If I believe the Bible teaches these things I would be going against my convictions and against the Great Commission if I didn’t feel it important to share every single one of these truths with others, even other followers of Jesus.
I am thankful that Martin Luther proselytized, and John Wesley, William Miller, and Rachel Oakes Preston all proselytized, because out of these different faith traditions and understandings of scripture my belief system and even my denomination has been developed and grown. I believe they in doing so were fulfilling the Great Commission and I shall do likewise!
I found this very interesting and very sad!
According to a study done the phrase, “Oh my God” accounts for 24% of women’s swearing. “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.” Most persons would not consider this swearing, but it is, and not only is it swearing but it is also dishonoring the one who made us and saved us!