I am at my wits' end and it's a good thing

"When we are at our wits' end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer. But how can He give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?" -Karl Barth

This quote from my friend Shane stopped me in my tracks this morning. I see this quote being lived out in my life, the lives of others and our church as a whole. I want to be a part of a community of people who embrace a "wits' end" look at life because that will lead to a community of people who are finding answers in God and not in man.

Our Greatest Danger

"This time of waiting on God was also necessary in order to teach them the greatest lesson of the Christian life--to cease from themselves. The greatest danger about these men was not in what they may fail to do, but in what they might try to do. The greatest harm that we can do is the attempt to do anything at all when we are not prepared, and when we do not understand the Master's will. There are times when the most masterly thing we can exercise is inactivity, and there are times when the most mischievous thing we can do is to do anything at all." --A.B. Simpson referring to Acts 1:1-5 in his book "The Holy Spirit." HT - Shane Stacey

Southern Gables Church is living in the midst of the tension of this quote and it's a beautiful thing to wait with all the people of SGC through this time!

Wildness lies in wait

"The real trouble with this world of ours is not
that it is an unreasonable world, nor
even that it is a reasonable one.
The commonest kind of trouble is that it is
nearly reasonable, but not quite.
Life is not an illogicality, yet
it is a trap for logicians.
It looks just a little more mathematical
and regular than it is; its'
exactitude is obvious; but
its' inexactitude is hidden;
its' wildness lies in wait."

- GK Chesterton

This quote captured my heart again today as I am reading Leading in a Culture of Change by Michael Fullan for a second time.

The times of our lives are filled with complexity. They are filled with wildness as we lie in wait. I want to live a life with a community of people that desire to embrace the wildness and seek out the hidden inexactitudes!

I will make you fishers of men

Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

I have been thinking about these words this week and the results the book of Acts records of the first disciples whose focus wasn't on creating a church, but rather on following Jesus. There is no doubt, the early disciples were fishers of men!

Acts 2:41 "There were added that day about three thousand souls."

Acts 4:4 "The number of the men came to be about five thousand.

Acts 5:14 "All the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number."

Acts 6:1 "At this time . . . the disciples were increasing in number."

Acts 6:7 "The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly."

Acts 9:31 "The church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace . . . [and] continued to increase."

Acts 12:24 "The word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied."

Acts 16:5 "So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily."

My hope and prayer for our church is that we would all seek to follow Jesus and trust God for the results.

Do you?

This quote from John Piper will start off our Senior Sneak this weekend in Breckenridge. I am praying that our seniors will let these words soak into their souls!

Do You…

Do you love the thought that you exist to make God look glorious?

Do you love the thought that all creation exists to display the glory of God?

Do you love the truth that all of history is designed by God to one day be a completed canvas that displays in the best way possible the greatness and beauty of God?

Do you love the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world to vindicate the righteousness of God and repair the injury that we had done to the reputation of the glory of God?

Do you love the truth you personally exist to make God look like what he really is—glorious?

I ask again: Do you love the fact that your salvation is meant to put the glory of God’s grace on display?

Do you love seeing and showing the glory of God?

Spiritual Community

"I want, for myself and others, an experience of spiritual community...where divine life could be poured back and forth through all the confusion and complexity of developing relational intimacy with preglorified saints, where we would actually become more like Christ in our attitudes and choices and motives because of our time together." - Larry Crabb, Real Church

God is making His appeal through us

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 "17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God."

It's my goal every time I encounter a student in my ministry this fall to be filled with humility as I consider the truths in these verses: God is a God of reconciliation; I am Christ's ambassador; God is making His appeal through me.

Is Christ being clearly portrayed in your student ministry?

Galatians 3:1-3 "1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"

While there are many things to say about these verses, the one thing that grabbed my attention this week is, "Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified."

At the end of May in 2010, could you say this to your students? What are you going to clearly portray to your students throughout this school year?

Prayer of Trust

“Abba, into your hands I entrust my body, mind, and spirit and this entire day – morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Whatever you want of me, I want of me, falling into you and trusting in you in the midst of my life. Into your heart I trust my heart, feeble, distracted, insecure, uncertain. Abba, unto you I abandon myself in Jesus our Lord. Amen.” - Brennan Manning from Ruthless Trust

I am envisioning a student ministry in the next few years where more students are praying this prayer and then living it? Can you see it? But then it hit me, if I am not praying this prayer and then living it I can't expect to see in our students.

The Need for Jesus

My ministry needs what I need first - Jesus. Therefore, I am praying this prayer this fall from the Valley of Vision.

Lord Jesus,
I am blind, be thou my light,
ignorant, be thou my wisdom,
self-willed, be thou my mind.

Open my ear to grasp quickly thy Spirit’s voice,
and delightfully run after his beckoning hand;
Melt my conscience that no hardness remain,
make it alive to evil’s slightest touch;
When Satan approaches may I flee to thy wounds,
and there cease to tremble at all alarms.

Be my good shepherd to lead me into the green pastures of thy Word,
and cause me to lie down beside the rivers of its comforts.

Fill me with peace, that no disquieting worldly gales
may ruffle the calm surfaces of my soul.

Thy cross was upraised to be my refuge,
Thy blood streamed forth to wash me clean,
Thy death occurred to give me a surety,
Thy name is my property to save me,
By thee all heaven is poured into my heart,
but it is too narrow to comprehend thy love.

I was a stranger, an outcast, a slave, a rebel,
but they cross has brought me near,
has softened my heart,
has made me thy Fathers’ child,
has admitted me to thy family,
has made me joint-heir with thyself.

O that I may love thee as thou lovest me,
that I may walk worthy of thee, my Lord,
that I may reflect the image of heaven’s first-born.

May I always see thy beauty with the clear eye of faith,
and feel the power of thy Spirit in my heart,
for unless he move mightily in me
no inward fire will be kindled.

Looking for danger in your youth ministry

"Looking for Jesus is an undertaking fraught with danger… The closer you get to finding him, the higher the stakes become. He is no mere passive object to be circled and appraised like a piece of sculpture. You look at him and he looks back. You may begin the search for Jesus with your own agenda, but be warned, he has one too. As the disciples discovered, you pay a price for finding Jesus. He may in fact, one day turn to you, as he did to those weak first-century followers, and ask, ―But you. – who do you say that I am?" (Virginia S Owens, Looking For Jesus, pg. 256)

It's an unbelievable privilege to get the chance to walk alongside students as a companion on their journey to find Christ which is fraught with danger. Too often our students see those around them as dangerous, but Owens forces us to think about the dangerous One. Is my youth ministry fraught with this dangerous picture of Jesus? On Wednesdays? On Sundays? Wait, maybe the first question I need to ask is, "Is my journey to find Christ more intimately in my life fraught with danger? Am I following the dangerous one?"

Clean - Romans 8

I am so excited to be starting our fall series this morning with our students. We are going to be studying through the transforming promises of Romans 8!

The Great Companion

“The sum of the blessings of Christ, sought by what he did and suffered in the work of redemption, was the Holy Spirit [The Great Companion]. Thus is the affair of our redemption constituted; the Father provides and gives the Redeemer, and the price of redemption is offered to him, and he grands the benefit purchased; the Son is the Redeemer who gives the price, and also is the price offered; and the Hoy Spirit is the grand blessing obtained by the price offered, and bestowed on the redeemed.

The Holy Spirit, in his indwelling presence, his influence and fruits, is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort and joy, or in one word, of all the spirutal good Christ purchased for me in this world: and is also the sum of all perfection, glory, and eternal joy that he purchased for them in another world.” (Edwards, Jonathan. A Call to United Extraordinary Prayer…. Christian Focus Pub. Great Britian, 2004.)

9-9-9 = Julie's Birthday TODAY!

Happy Birthday Julie!

I love you!

Don't worry I won't say how old you are...I've at least learned that over the last 13 years of marriage!

Terrorist or Sappy Spirituality?

"I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery. "
— Brennan Manning

Has the church lost her testimony?

"The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its culture, actually stands in sharp opposition to it." AW Tozer

You and I NEED Someone

"How do we know that we are not deluding ourselves, that we are not selecting those words that best fit our passions, that we are not just listening to the voice of our own imagination?...Who can determine if [our] feelings and insights are leading [us] in the right direction?

Our God is greater than our own heart and mind, and too easily we are tempted to make our heart’s desires and our mind’s speculations into the will of God. Therefore, we need a guide, a director, a counselor who helps us to distinguish between the voice of God and all other voices coming from our own confusion or from dark powers far beyond our control.

We need someone who encourages us when we are tempted to give it all up, to forget it all, to just walk away in despair. We need someone who discourages us when we move too rashly in unclear directions or hurry proudly to a nebulous goal. We need someone who can suggest to us when to read and when to be silent, which words to reflect upon and what to do when silence creates much fear and little peace." - Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

Who is this someone in your life?

The Deeps

My prayer for the week from a collection of puritan prayers.

"Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water."

A friend who cares

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.” - Henri Nouwen

The most revealing thing about your youth ministry

"For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. ..." AW Tozer

This quote has captured my heart. The most revealing thing about my youth ministry is its idea of God. What have I said about God? What have I left unsaid?