He Sets You Free!

When you look at the world what do you think about a God who created all of this? Is he a beautiful and merciful God? Is he a distant and uninvolved God? Is he a malicious and wrathful God? 

Your experiences influence your vision of God. Have you experienced joy and wealth? If so, you might easily see God as generous and kind. Have you experienced abuse and poverty? If so, you might easily see God as vengeful or uninvolved. 

What has your life been like? How have you responded to the joys? The struggles? The pains? 

Where have you looked for help? The Lord? Pleasure? Rebellion?

Although a few key attritributes of God can be known by looking at creation we are still left wondering, 'God, who are you? What are you like? How can I know you?'. 

Thankfully, God has revealed his nature and attributes through his Word, through history, and through his Holy Spirit. We see his grace in the life of Abraham. We see his mercy in the Exodus. We see his redemption in sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins. 

I do not know what you have experienced in this life. I do not know who your parents are. I do not know how wealthy, poor, joyful or angry you are. I do know one thing though: God has extended his hand to you and offered new life. Will you accept it? Will you look at sin and say, 'No more.' Will you look at God and say, 'Yes, please restore me.'?

Psalm 146:7-10 The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous...but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

May you embrace all that he has offered. And may you experience the joy of knowing God...

You are Victorious!

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 18:36-37 My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews...For this purpose I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

Christians should walk in encouragement and victory. Our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, has overcome sin, death, and the world. Everything has been secured for Jesus' disciples.

Many Christians live defeated because of three distinct reasons. First, some Christians experience discouragement when they do not see victory over sin in their own lives. They get stuck repeating a sin over and over then give up. Second, many Christians do not see victory over death in this world and end up forgetting that this life is only a mist in the grand scheme of eternity. Third, many Christians live defeated because they see the chaos and disorder in the world and forget that it is temporary and the kingdom to which they belong is not of this world!

When believers see sin, death, and the world from an eternal perspective they position themselves to experience the peace and joy that Christ brings to their lives! Remember what Jesus said to his disciples when preparing them to experience persecution and troubles in the world:

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

My prayer for you is that you would not fall to discouragement because of the sin you are still in the process of overcoming, that you would see all things through the lenses of eternity, and as a result walk in victory and confidence because Jesus has conquered sin, death, and the world!

Good Friday=Stressful Friday

The last time I looked, Easter was supposed to be a celebration. Yay! Jesus died on Good Friday, taking the punishment for our sins, and rose from the grave on Easter, defeating sin and death! 

It is so great and wonderful! I get excited just thinking about it! What better thing is there for us to celebrate and rejoice?! Nothing!

But if you are anything like me then just about the time you start building excitement for Good Friday and Easter something inevitably goes wrong. It is like clock work! 

Two years ago it was a church event that went terribly wrong due to the weather. We were supposed to have an outside Easter Egg Hunt and the the rain came pouring down. We had already bought the eggs, the candy, the bounce houses, and everything else so we had to do something with them! It took a few hours to figure out what to do with 1,000 unused Easter Eggs. We ended up packaging them in white paper sacks and putting stick-on labels on the front that read 'You've been Egg'd by Vintage Church Allen' on the front with an invitation to Easter Service. We passed out the sacks in the local neighborhood in hopes of salvaging something descent out of the effort. Needless to say the heartache of the event being cancelled and the extra work to package and distribute the Egg Sacks took its toll. My wife is still experiencing PESD (Post Easter Stress Disorder) from the whole ordeal.

This year it hit from almost every angle. Business deals got crazy stressful and the yearly church Easter Egg Hunt looked like it was going to be understaffed with just a couple of days until the event. I just started feeling the pressure and stress of old come back when I was reminded of why we do this. We don't celebrate for perfect events or easy business transactions. We are simply sharing the love and message of Jesus with our neighbors! It is that simple! Events do not go perfectly! Business sometimes falls through! But Jesus never fails us! It was in the worst of historical events that Jesus won his greatest victory!

In much the same way, in my most stressful and difficult experiences that I am forced to turn back to the simple beauty of why we celebrate Good Friday and Easter. In those times I have nothing else to turn to. I am at the end of my own strength and feel like I have to give up trying. That's when I remember: Jesus took the burden on himself! Jesus bears the weight himself! I simply need to lay down my burdens at his feet.

Matthew 11:28- 

'28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'

So I ask you this: What burdens are you carrying? What heartache is weighing you down? And what will it take for you to lay it down and rest at the feet of your savior?

It is not worth holding on to.

May you hold on loosly to your life and tightly to Jesus. And may you experience peace and rest in his presence this Easter season.

Crooked Path...

Ruth 1:16 ...Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

Ruth 3:13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.

The Lord's path is not always a straight line. Sometimes following the Lord requires you to endure pain and loss that almost crushes you. Crisis and tragedy can come in droves.

Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah all experienced the worst kind of crisis. Their husbands died! In those days a husband was the woman's sole provider and protector. To lose a husband was sometimes a death sentence. Other times it was a sentence of slavery. 

Thankfully, Ruth clung to Naomi and followed her to the land of Judah. In his grace the Lord provided a kinsman redeemer to take Ruth and Naomi in. He loved Ruth and they had a son named Obed. This son was the grandfather of King David.

In this story God used horrific tragedy to bring about great victory! We celebrate the victory!

So I will ask a few questions: What tragedy have you experienced? How have you responded? 

Do not give up on the Lord! He can turn your worst tragedy into your greatest victory!

Stuck

Exodus 6:9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

Moses brought amazing news of God's deliverance. After four hundred years they would finally be free! God was going to fulfill his promise to them that they had been told about for generations! Sadly, the Israelites had been so accustomed to slavery and being treated like scum that they could not imagine being set free. They were truly oppressed and they saw themselves as slaves, not free men. 

This is what can happen when you are stuck for a long time. You get used to defeat and failure to the point that you cannot accept the possibility that you can be set free! When you get stuck in a sin that you cannot seem to shake you eventually give up and accept the sin and walk in the oppression and shame of failure. 

The beauty of Christ is that he came to set you free from sin! Galatians 5:1 reads, 'For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.' 

Now may you walk in freedom. May you look at the sin and struggle that has been owning you and trust what Christ did for you on the cross. May you accept the freedom you have been given. Amen.

Why do we worship?

Exodus 3:4-5 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

What is worship? Why do we sing to God and preach about God and pray to God? 

When we look from the outside-in it looks rather strange. People gathering together in a building or a house, singing about an all-powerful creataor, giving their money away because they love this invisible being. It must be rather strange looking to the ousdier.

But what we see here in Exodus 3 reveals to us the essense of true worship. The almighty creator of the universe revealed himself to Moses. Moses was not a powerful man, from whom God could strategically benefit. He had lost everything and was a shepherd in the wilderness, but God chose to come and meet wiith him and communicate with him. 

It is interesting how Moses responds to God's presence. He 'hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.' God's holy presence was so overwhelming that Moses could not even look at him. This is what we call, 'the fear of the Lord.' We also call the response, 'reverence.' When we are in God's presence we are amazed by his greatness so we submit ourselves to his will. 

May you and I recognize God's greatness and holiness like Moses did. May we fear the Lord and revere him. May we worship him for he is holy.

Suffering for What?

Genesis 50:19 But Joesph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

Bad things happen to good people. Why? This passage in Genesis 50 shows us one reason people experience suffering; because God uses suffering to save people's lives! Joseph suffered so that his family could be saved from the famine many years later. Joseph's brothers had no idea that they were contributing to the eternal plan of God while they were selling him into slavery. any more than Jesus' executioners knew that they were  contributing to God's plan of salvation.

Obviously, this fact does not excuse sin. On the contrary, their sin was horrible and evil. But God has an amazing way of taking something terrible and using it for his plan of redemption.

Here is my hope for us: Let us endure suffering with the joy of knowing that God will not allow it to be wasted. Likewise, let us not waste our suffering, but instead use it as a witness of God's greatness. He is worth it!

Job and his hope...

It would be easy to start reading the book of Job, get about 5 chapters into it, get bored, and skip to the Psalms. Let’s face it, Job is a difficult book to read for many reasons. First, Job is forty-two chapters long. Second, almost all of Job is poetic conversations that are very lengthy to say the least. Third, and most importantly, Job deals with a controversial issue that everyone with a brain has pondered at some time in their life.

You have this guy, whose name is Job, who follows God closely. God even says Job is, “blameless and upright.” He has ten children, who he watches after closely, and an incredible amount of wealth. Then, all of a sudden, everything is gone. Some of his possessions are stolen, some destroyed, and worst of all his children die in a horrific “natural” disaster. Now this is obviously a sad state of affairs, but it gets worse. The controversy that makes it difficult to swallow is the fact that God allowed Satan to destroy all of Job’s possessions and his children…

In 21^st century America we tend to view God as a sweet, yet weak, being that will bless you in this life if you just work hard, college degree, and get a good job. Sounds a lot like Karma doesn’t it? Unfortunately, as the Tea Party and the Occupy movement have so clearly communicated, that is just not the case. Something seems wrong with the world when you work hard, get an education, and follow your dreams only to find out that the world does not bow down to you just because you have a piece of paper that says G.P.A 3.5 written in bold letters.

So why does God allow such horrible things to happen? I mean look around at the world and you will see poverty, war, babies being systematically murdered legally, and many other forms of suffering. So if God is all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing why would he allow these horrible tragedies to happen? One answer I have heard recently is that he is too weak to change it. If that is what you think, then think about this, “If God was able to create the entire universe, why do you think is incapable of handling his creation?” It seems to me that managing conflict would be much easier than creating everything out of nothing.

Another answer that is possible is this: “God is in the process of doing something, the details of which we may not completely understand.” Many people reject this view outright because it assumes that human beings may not have it all figured out. This view also takes the steering wheel of eternity out of the hands of scientists, politicians, and every other power hungry group looking to set the pace for progress.

Throughout Job’s conversations with his friends he consistently hopes for something beyond this life that God will do to make things right. Here is an example of one of Job's cries for help…(Job 16:19-22)

¹⁹Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. ²⁰My friends scorn me; My eye pours out tears to God, ²¹that he would argue the case of a man with God. as a son of man does with his neighbor. ²²For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Job had an idea that something greater must be happening in heaven, that God would not forget him.

Now when you experience crisis of some kind, may you know that there is a reason to hope. There is a reason to press through the pain and suffering. His name is Jesus and he came to rescue his people from their sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). Please, consider the implications...

Risk

1 Samuel 14:6-11

Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, “Wait until we come to you,” then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, “Come up to us,” then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand.

This is such a strange story. Jonathan’s father, Saul, was chilling at the pomegranate cave while he should have been fighting and Jonathan got the wild idea to go fight Israel’s enemies with just his armor-bearer. At this point, Jonathan seems either very brave or incredibly stupid…or both. Either way, his statement to his armor-bearer shows his bravery. He says, “It may be that the Lord will work for us…”

He does not even know for sure if the Lord will deliver him in this situation! He thinks that he and his armor-bearer may very well die and he presses forward anyway! Here is what I think is happening: Jonathan, knowing his father is not doing what the Lord had commanded him, is following through with the plans the Lord has given his people. Jonathan simply desires to be obedient to what the Lord commanded, whether it ends in his death or victory. Wow!

We see this same type of obedience from Jonathan later in the same chapter…

1 Samuel 14:24, 27, 43 ²⁴And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food…²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright…⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.”

Needless to say, the people of Israel rose up and protected Jonathan from Saul because they knew that Jonathan had saved them from their enemies.

So what can we take away from this? I think this story, among other things, gives us an example of the benefits of faithfulness. You may notice throughout this story that the people Jonathan associates with are fiercely loyal to him. Jonathan’s armor-bearer is willing to go on a suicide mission with him. Also, the people of Israel put their lives at stake in order to save Jonathan from the King! Jonathan’s faithfulness to the Lord showed his people that he did not just care for himself, but for all of them!

An even greater example that Jonathan is showing here is that of one man laying his life down for the entire nation. Where have you seen that before? Can you say, J-E-S-U-S? The greatest example of self-sacrificial faithfulness is Jesus Christ willingly dying on the cross for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. The Old Testament is full of pictures of the gospel, including this one.

Thick-Skin

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it-though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no less through us. For godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret.

Paul truly loves these people. How do we know? Because he is willing to be honest with them, even to the point that they experienced grief. To some this sounds strange, but to us to have experienced this type of grief, it is refreshing.

I played high school baseball for a man named Murl Bowen. He is literally THE WINNINGEST HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL COACH in history. I know that sounds a little far-fetched for most of you, but it is true. Wikipedia (my friend Bruce Kendrick’s favorite source to site for research papers) puts it like this, in the article about Asher, Oklahoma:

“In those forty years, Asher won 2,115 games, lost only 349, hauled home forty-five state championship trophies, fourteen state runner-ups, and sent dozens of players to college and minor-league baseball. No high school in history, public or private, has won as many games as the Asher Indians.”

Not a bad career, if you ask me. What made him so successful? I am sure there were many factors that led to that incredible run, however I remember one in particular. Coach Bowen was honest with his players. He told his players what they needed to know in order to improve, on and off the field. I remember several times when coach Bowen said something to me that made me feel like a complete moron at the time, but later proved to help me immensely in baseball and in life. One such phrase he uttered consistently, to help us be the best player we were capable of was, “Know your limits.” If you were a power hitter, then great. If not, then don’t try to hit the ball out of the yard just to prove how manly you were. I was not a power hitter.

I also remember one time, my freshman or sophomore year, that I had some crazy haircut that looked really stupid. We were at a tournament in Eakly, Oklahoma when coach Bowen took me aside very calmly and told me, “Kris, you look like a horses a**.” At the time I was offended, but not long after I realized that he was right, I did look like a horses a** with that haircut.

I use coach Bowen as an example of a leader who cares enough for his followers to be honest. Honesty does not mean cruelty, though. According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10, he regretted his outright honesty at first. Later, however, when he saw the repentance that it produced, he did not regret it, but rejoiced!

My prayer for all who read this, is that we would love the people we lead (including ourselves) enough to be lovingly honest for the purpose of godliness. Amen.  

Glamour

Acts 7:59-60 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

What can we learn here? Stephen forgives. He just finished preaching a sermon that literally went into the record books (and for good reason too) and his audience kills him for it. And how does Stephen respond? Stephen does not allow persecution, threat, hatred, or even violence get in the way of his attitude. These people were killing Stephen and he asked God not to hold it against them?

To be completely honest this seems so out of reach! I don’t know about you, but I get steamed when someone leaves dirty dishes in the sink. Stephen, on the other hand, keeps his cool while getting beaten to death with rocks! This just shows me how much I need to grow spiritually. My desire is to be so in tune with Jesus that I respond to things the way he responds, and think the way he thinks.

That is what Stephen does here. He responds to his persecutors much the same way that Jesus responded to his persecutors. Stephens words, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” are very comparable to Jesus’ words recorded in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

So where did Stephen come from? He seems to just emerge out of nowhere and take the world by storm! Interestingly, before Luke records Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 we see Stephen mentioned in Acts 6 as one of the seven table servants that are appointed to relieve some of the burden off the Apostles. Stephen served tables to widows. Not only did he serve tables, but read how Stephen’s peers described him, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit…” Long before Stephen spoke to the high priest and was martyred for his faith, Stephen was a servant and a godly man.  

We don’t read much about Stephen’s life before he was martyred. He loved Jesus. He had faith. He served. Only the last part of Stephen’s life is mentioned in scripture.

Most of our lives will never be written about in books. Most of us will not be famous throughout history. But you know what we can do? We can be faithful. We can serve. And if we continue growing spiritually maybe we will seize the opportunity to forgive someone who wrongs us…

Hand on the Plow...

I had some options in college. I worked pretty hard at getting good grades in every class and understood everything the profs tried to teach us. And though my strongest scores were always math and science, I would rather shovel dung than work with inanimate objects all day, every day. I had felt a constant tugging toward ministry starting when I became a believer at the age of fourteen, however my aversion to public speaking steered me away from preaching. Strangely, my desire to help people drove me toward majoring in Psychology. I thought, "Hey, I'll get my Ph.D., open my own practice in a wealthy area and bank off the rich folks' secret disfunctions!" Sorry, I'm just trying to be honest! 

By the time I was a senior I found myself incredibly board with "behavior modification" and the whole direction of the social sciences. I realized that taking this direction was not going to fulfill the intense calling I felt to see lives transformed for the gospel.  

It was at that point that I finally, fully, let go of control and started hearing and obeying God as best I could. This path has not been convenient, especially for my mother-in-law, who must have thought I was a complete moron for moving her daughter seven hours away from home for a part time job in Austin, Texas. She was right though (and a wonderful blessing of a mother-in-law), sometimes it is difficult to discern between obedient and stupid when it comes to fully obeying our Lord. Sometimes obedience looks stupid to other people, especially when it effects your financial future.

Seven years later here we are, planting a church in a town I barely knew existed, in a huge metroplex surrounded by other suburbanites who are working, playing golf and getting excited about the 60 million dollar football stadium being repaired in Allen, Texas! I don't know whether I should be excited or embarrassed.

Anyway, we walked into this church planting endeavor soon after Karis resigned from her full time job and started a real estate career. Needless to say, our financial house is up and down, up and down, up and...well you get the picture.

So every once in a while I find myself asking the question, "Would it have been easier to have taken another career route and not gone into church planting?"

As I was reading in Luke this morning I came to this incredible little passage where Jesus responds to some people who want to follow him "if" they can first take care of some of their other life issues. Jesus' answer to them crushed me...

"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Luke 9:62

That said it all...

Of course it would have been easier to take another route! BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT!! We are blessed beyond measure to be considered worthy of this ministry! Who am I to ask the question, "Would it have been easier to...?"

Thankfully, this is all part of God's molding process! He is making us into his image, slowly but surely. We should invite him to shape us into his image, however painful the process. It is not about collecting more toys, or gaining more financial status. It's about knowing him. And when we know him, he will make us more like him that we were before. He cleanses us, renews us, and walks with us through all of these struggles.

Now may you be blessed as you go about your day. And may you invite God to shape and mold you according to his will. Amen...